FTSE 100 bounces back to close in the black, but mid-caps on the ropes on Friday

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UK blue-chips staged an afternoon rally to end the shortened trading week modestly higher after spending much of a typically low volume Friday in decline.

An overnight US airstrike on Baghdad airport, which killed top Iranian general Qassem Suleimani, may have initially jangled nerves, particularly for those exposed to oil, evidenced by share price declines for budget flyers Ryanair and EasyJet, the latter of which topped the FTSE 100 loser board with a 3%-plus fall.

This was clearly a response to a 3% jump in Brent crude, sending oil major BP to the summit of the FTSE 100 leader board, up nearly 3% at 493.6p.

But while tensions between the US and Iranian governments are likely to become even more strained investors appeared to shrug-off concerns amid a weakening pound.

At the close, the benchmark FTSE 100 index had nudged more than 18 points to the good at 7,622.40.

But there was a modest bloodbath among mid-cap, with the FTSE 250 index plunging more than a full 1%, albeit from recent record highs.

ONLINE SHINES FOR NEXT

UK high street fashion retail bellwether Next saw its share price recovered some of its earlier weakness but still ended up down 26p at £69.32 despite reporting a 5% jump in pre-Christmas sales as online business was brisk. This also led the company to up its full year profit guidance.

The retailer attributed the sales performance boost to a 'much colder November' than last year and improved stock availability in both its retail stores and online.

Housebuilder Bovis Homes slumped 5% to £13.12 after completing its acquisition of Linden Homes and Partnerships & Regeneration businesses from Galliford Try, and its name change to Vistry.

Galliford Try, which has now exited all house building activities, will be run in future by Bill Hocking, who has now formally taken up his role as chief executive of Galliford Try.

JOHNSON READIES NEW PLANT

UK textile services provider Johnson Service saw its share price gain 1.3% to 201.5p as it revealed its Leeds plant opening is on track for Spring 2020 and that it had experienced a strong trading period.

The company also confirmed completion of its Fresh Linen acquisition.

Previously mentioned Ryanair also had news, reporting 9% growth in December traffic to 11.2m passengers.

British American Tobacco rallied more than 2.5% to £33.47 after it welcomed FDA guidance on the US vapour market and confirmed that its US subsidiary Reynolds American will comply with new flavour guidelines.

Push-to-talk technology developer Mobile Tornado slumped nearly 8% to 3.5p after telling investors that it anticipates a shortfall in revenues for the full year 2019.

The top line miss comes as a result of a delay to the full deployment of its solution with a government agency, the company said, and a major public utility in Israel.