Dec 2 (Reuters) - The UK's FTSE 100 touched a six-week closing high on Monday, extending November's modest gains, as a slide in sterling supported shares of international firms.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE), rose 0.3% to its strongest close since Oct. 21. The index clocked a 2.2% gain in November.
The pound slid 0.8% against the dollar, helping big firms such as Unilever (ULVR.L), HSBC (HSBA.L), and Anglo American (AAL.L), which draw a large part of their revenue in dollars.
The midcap FTSE 250 (.FTMC), closed flat as investors watched political developments in France.
French stocks found support, having fallen sharply earlier in the session, as Prime Minister Michel Barnier made a major concession to Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party, dropping planned cuts to medication reimbursements in a last-minute bid to get his 2025 budget bill over the line.
"It has been a day of diverging fortunes for European markets – the FTSE 100's flat session sits between an ebullient Dax, which hit a new record high and a CAC40 that is being pulled first one way and then another by the growing political crisis in France," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG.
Meanwhile, a gauge of British manufacturing activity pointed to the sharpest contraction in nine months, as orders from domestic and foreign customers fell and ongoing supply chain disruption pushed up costs.
All eyes will be on Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey's speech on Wednesday for more clues on the central bank's monetary policy path.
British homebuilders Vistry Group (VTYV.L), and Persimmon (PSN.L), fell 3.9% and 1.3% after brokerage RBC cut the rating on their stocks to "underperform" from "perform".
Reporting by Nikhil Sharma and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Jonathan Oatis
