22 January 2021 | 08:35am
StockMarketWire.com - News that UK borrowing hit £34.1 billion in December 2020, the third-highest borrowing in any month since monthly records began in 1993, weighed heavily on UK markets, which opened lower.
Meanwhile, the latest figures showed mixed retail sales figures, with a 0.3% increase in retail sales volumes in December when compared with the previous month, helped by a rebound in sales at clothing stores, but a record annual decline in sales volumes of 25% for clothing stores in 2020 when compared with 2019.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.3%, or 17.99 points, to 6,697.43, while the FTSE 250 was also 0.3% lower to 20,740.21.
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline was buoyed 0.2% to £13.66 on the announcement that ViiV Healthcare, which it majority owns, has received US regulatory approval for its HIV treatment regime Cabenuva.