London stocks fell in early trade on Friday, taking their cue from a downbeat Asian session following the release of weak Chinese data and after European Union leaders told Theresa May that the Brexit withdrawal agreement was not open for renegotiation.

At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.9% to 6,818.60, while the pound was down 0.4% against the dollar at 1.2594 and 0.3% lower versus the euro at 1.1108 after Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU charm offensive yielded no breakthroughs.

European Union leaders rejected May’s plea to put a time limit on the Irish backstop, in a blow to her hopes of reaching a deal at a Brussels summit on Thursday.

May had arrived at the European Council meeting hoping to win changes on the contentious backstop, designed to stop a hard border with Ireland in the event of no free trade deal with the EU, and bring back a deal she get could get through parliament. But it was opposed by Ireland, France, Sweden, Spain and Belgium, who voiced doubts that the prime minister would be able to sell the technical concession to hostile MPs in Westminster.

Meanwhile, Chinese data released earlier in the morning showed that industrial production rose 5.4% on the year in November, versus expectations of 5.9% growth. Retail sales were up 8.1%, falling short of expectations for 8.8% growth and marking the weakest pace of growth since 2003.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "It’s not only more evidence that the superpower’s economy is slowing down, but another reminder of the impact the trade tensions between the US and China are having, despite the stop-start progress made between the pair in the last fortnight or so."

Miners - which are heavily dependent on demand from China - were under pressure after the data, with Glencore, BHP and Antofagasta all lower.

Housebuilders also retreated amid worries about Brexit, with Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments and Crest Nicholson all under the cosh.

In individual corporate news, Burberry was the biggest loser after French luxury goods company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton said it had agreed to acquire London-based Belmond, an owner and operator of high-end hotels around the world.

British American Tobacco was in the red as it announced two new management board roles, in a bid to accelerate the implementation of its strategy, with a director of new categories to report directly to the chief marketing officer.

The FTSE 100 cigarette giant also announced the new director of digital and information, to report directly to the CEO and be responsible for “driving digital transformation”. It said the roles of chief operating officer and group business development director would cease to exist.

Balfour Beatty rallied as it said its performance for the year will be above previous expectations after sales of its interests in two infrastructure projects exceed directors' valuations. The construction group said it was on track to achieve industry-standard margins in all earnings-based businesses in the second half of 2018.

Aggreko edged higher after saying that its subsidiary, Aggreko Events Services Japan Limited (AESJL), has been awarded a $200m supply contract for temporary electricity generation by The Tokyo Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers

#		Name	Change Pct	Change	Cur Price
1		Paddy Power Betfair	+0.62%	+40.00	6,465.00
2		Pearson Plc	+0.62%	+5.80	940.40
3		Sky plc	+0.00%	+0.00	1,727.50
4		Old Mutual	+0.00%	+0.00	210.90
5		Associated British Foods	+0.00%	+0.00	2,171.00
6		BHP Billiton	+0.00%	+0.00	1,573.00

Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers

#		Name	Change Pct	Change	Cur Price
1		TUI AG	-3.99%	-47.50	1,142.50
2		G4S	-3.93%	-7.70	188.10
3		Taylor Wimpey	-3.59%	-4.85	130.35
4		CRH Plc	-3.00%	-61.50	1,986.50
5		Convatec	-2.97%	-4.30	140.45
6		Antofagasta Plc	-2.94%	-23.40	771.20
7		Glencore	-2.83%	-8.35	286.80
8		Persimmon	-2.82%	-55.00	1,894.50
9		Prudential	-2.66%	-38.00	1,388.50
10		Barratt Developments	-2.58%	-11.70	441.00

Wall Street stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday, with persistent tensions between the US and China and Donald Trump's criticism of Federal Reserve policy remaining in focus.

At the close, the Dow Jones was 0.29% higher at 24,597.38, while the S&P 500 traded 0.02% lower at 2,650.54 and the Nasdaq lost 0.39% at 7,070.33.

Investors mulled over news that Chinese state-owned companies had bought more than 1.5m tons of US soybeans for the first time in six months and a Wall Street Journal report that China was planning to drop its "Made in China 2025" plans.

Rabobank said: "That’s obviously positive, but let’s keep things real. China needs that soy. It always did. So buying it helps it out, and is a far bigger win for Trump politically than it is Xi."

"Meanwhile, on MIC, yes, it is now not on a list of 2019 priorities for local governments issued by the State Council, and we will certainly hear less of it going forwards, in the same way that the Belt and Road Initiative is also being downplayed since a global backlash began."

Elsewhere, Donald Trump continued to criticise the Fed and its efforts to normalise monetary policy.

Ahead of its meeting next week, the President said he hopes the central bank "won't be raising rates anymore."

Back in the UK, Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote triggered by members of her own party as Brexit woes continued to dominate headlines.

West Texas Intermediate gained 3.32% to $52.85 a barrel, while Brent Crude gained 2.54% to $61.68.

The USD was down just 0.04% to 0.7900, while Bitcoin fell 6.1% to a 15-month low of $3,230.

In corporate news, insurer Aflac closed 6.67% higher as it confirmed talks with Japan Post about a minority investment.

Elsewhere, Avon lost 2.39% during the session after it appointed Gustavo Arnal as its new executive president and chief financial officer.

General Electric surged 7.30% after it announced the launch of a $2.1bn industrial Internet of Things company. GE said the company would be wholly owned and independently run with its own board. The stock also benefited from a JPMorgan upgrade to 'neutral' from 'underweight'.

On the data front, initial jobless claims in the US recorded their largest drop since April 2015 last week.

According to the Department of Labor, initial jobless claims for the week ending on 8 December dropped by 27,000 to reach 206,000.

Economists had anticipated a much smaller decline of 6,000 from the original estimate of 231,000 for the prior week to 225,000.

The four-week moving average meanwhile shrank by 3,750 to 224,750.

In parallel, secondary unemployment claims, or those which are not being filed for the first time, and referencing week ending on 1 December, edged up by 25,000 to 1.661m.

Elsewhere, US import prices recorded their largest drop in over three years on Thursday, with the rising cost of petroleum-based products and a strong USD weighing on the price of other goods.

The Labor Department revealed import prices had dropped 1.6% in November, the biggest decline since August 2015, after an unrevised 0.5% increase in October.

Economists had forecast a decrease of 0.9% in November.

Export prices increased 1.8% year-on-year.

Theresa May was humiliated by European leaders late last night after they rejected pleas for any further concessions to get her Brexit deal through parliament. France and Ireland led a move to strike out a compromise agreement that would have given the prime minister “political and legal assurances” that Britain would not be trapped in an indefinite Irish backstop. - The Times

Businesses are in “despair” over Brexit and have already diverted hundreds of millions of pounds in investment out of the UK, the Confederation of British Industry has said. The CBI deputy director general Josh Hardie said companies around the country, who did not seek publicity, had already pressed the button on contingency plans for no deal. - Guardian

A National Audit Office report attacking Capita’s handling of the troubled army recruitment contract has been labelled the “final nail in the coffin” for the outsourcer retaining the work. The government spending watchdog said the Defence Recruiting System scheme which handed over signing up the almost 10,000 would-be soldiers the Army needs a year to the private company was “beset by problems”. - Telegraph

Wages are still worth a third less in some parts of the country than a decade ago, according to a report. Research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that the average worker has lost £11,800 in real earnings since 2008. - Guardian

More than 24,000 people in Britain will spend the festive period sleeping rough or in cars, trains, buses or tents, according to new estimates that throw light on the scale of so-called “hidden” homelessness. Research by the charity Crisis suggests 12,300 people are sleeping rough on the streets - the official figure is 4,751 - while a further 12,000 will spend the night in tents, cars, sheds, bins or night buses. - Guardian

Nigeria has filed a $1bn claim against Royal Dutch Shell in London’s High Court over a 2011 oil deal at the centre of long-standing allegations of fraud and corruption. The claim alleges that Shell made payments for a major oil block off the Nigerian coast to a company controlled by Nigeria’s former oil minister, Dan Etete, which was then used to pay “bribes and kickbacks”. - Telegraph

Imagination Technologies, the British microchip company bought by a Beijing-backed fund last year, has hired a new boss who was fired from his previous chief executive position for misconduct. Ron Black was terminated as the chief executive of Silicon Valley tech company Rambus in June after its board said his “conduct fell short of the company’s standards”. - Telegraph

The NHS is braced for “one of the bleakest winters yet” with hospitals already full and A&Es having suffered their worst November on record. One in ten hospitals had no free beds at times in the first week of December and eight had to turn away ambulances, NHS England figures showed. Beds were about 94 per cent full, well into the “red zone” where safety is at risk. - The Times

Sajid Javid has told police he expects more crimes to be solved as householders face an extra £24 on their council tax bills to pay for a £1billion cash boost for forces. The Home Secretary said the extra £970million was the biggest increase in police funding since 2010 and designed to answer their demands for extra frontline officers in the face of rising violence and crime. - Telegraph

Rail passengers face New Year’s Eve chaos after union leaders announced fresh strikes in a long-running row over responsibility for operating train doors. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will walk out for 24 hours on December 31 targeting South Western Railway, the busiest route in the country. - The Times

Less than five years after its stock market flotation, Game Digital is planning to seek demotion to the junior alternative investment market. The company said that it was seeking shareholder agreement to cancel its listings on the London stock exchange’s main market and the premium segment of the official list and would be applying for admission to Aim. - The Times

The French carmaker Renault has retained Carlos Ghosn as its chairman and chief executive after finding no irregularities in his pay packages, despite his arrest and continued detention in Japan. Renault said on Thursday that its board had reviewed payments to Ghosn between 2015 and 2018. All payments were “in compliance with applicable law” as well as the French corporate governance code, it said. - Guardian

Twitter must reveal the user behind a pair of parody accounts claiming to be run by pub chain JD Wetherspoon, the high court has ruled. The social network, which did not oppose the application, has until mid-January to comply. The parody accounts, @Wetherspoon__UK and @SpoonsTom, have tens of thousands of followers each on the social network, and tweet a mixture of fake updates about Wetherspoon’s pubs and replies to users who mistakenly believe they are contacting the real company. - Guardian

Have you ever wondered why some shops ask for your postcode or email address as you check out? They could be building a picture of you and your spending patterns to predict the value of your custom. This is known as Customer Lifetime Value, or CLV, and a high score could be the secret to unlocking better service and hidden perks. - Telegraph

Advertisements that perpetuate gender stereotypes, such as men struggling with household chores or women being less able to park, will be banned from next year. The advertising watchdog has confirmed that from June adverts must not include gender stereotypes likely to cause harm or serious or widespread offence, the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) has said. - The Times

The Conservative Party is facing an irrevocable split over Brexit, senior Tories said yesterday, as rival factions attacked each other in the face of Theresa May’s weakened leadership. The prime minister’s appeal for unity after she won a confidence vote appeared to fall on deaf ears as MPs traded insults and Brexiteers continued to insist that she should resign. - The Times