London stocks set records as pound suffers

London stocks hit record highs on Friday after the pound took a beating on an opinion poll surprise two weeks before Britain's general election.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.4 percent to close at 7,547.63 points, having hit a record 7,554.21 points during the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the British pound dived to a month low against the dollar after a Yougov opinion poll put the opposition Labour Party just five points behind the ruling Conservatives before a June 8 general election.

That raised concerns the government's expected poll win might not be as big as expected, which could weaken its hand in Brexit talks. Against the euro, the pound fell to a two month low.

"Today's weakness in the pound has helped push both the FTSE100 and FTSE250 to new record highs," said market analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.

"On the flip side of the coin broader European markets have continued to struggle despite economic data which to all intents and purposes points to a continued improvement in economic activity across the whole of Europe."

Frankfurt finished the day down 0.2 percent while Paris ended flat.

Meanwhile, the euro slipped below $1.12 after US first quarter growth was revised sharply higher to 1.2 percent.

- OPEC-inspired oil volatility -

Elsewhere, oil prices stablised, after having plunged almost five percent on Thursday as traders were left disappointed by OPEC's latest output cut deal.

Europe's energy sector shrugged off the market's OPEC-inspired volatility.

"It's a big move (in oil prices) but... the large cap oil stocks have not moved as much as I would have thought," said Will Hamlyn, investment analyst at Manulife Asset Management.

"The reason is that these companies... are really changing their business models to be able to cope with a much lower oil price."

Asian equities were broadly weaker, despite another record close for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq on Wall Street that come on the back of upbeat US retail data.

Wall Street was down in late morning trading despite the upbeat GDP data.

After pushing higher for five straight sessions, some investors booked profits ahead of a three-day holiday weekend in the United States.

"That negative disposition can be pinned predominately on an underlying sense that the market is due for some profit taking following an advance of 58 points," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.

"Moves like that often invite assertions that the market is overbought on a short-term basis and due for a pullback."

- Key figures around 1530 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 7,547.63 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.2 percent at 12,602.18 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: FLAT at 5,336.64 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,577.25

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.04 percent at 21,074.60

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 19,686.84 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: FLAT at 25,639.27 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,110.06 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1180 from $1.1208

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 111.26 yen from 111.85 yen

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2787 from $1.2940

Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 22 cents at $51.68 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 12 cents at $49.02

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