THE pound rose above 1.30 against the US dollar for the first time since September, as strong UK retail sales gave a boost to sterling and jitters surrounding calls for Donald Trump's impeachment weighed on the greenback.

Sterling was up more than 0.4 per cent versus the US dollar at 1.303 in early trading, its highest level in nearly eight months, but was trading 0.2 per cent higher at 1.300 by the afternoon.

Against the euro, the pound was up 0.5 per cent at 1.168.

Investors piled into the UK currency after month-on-month retail sales data outstripped expectations April, rising by 2.3 per cent due in part to the later timing of Easter holidays and warmer weather.

David Madden, a market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said the pound could make further gains.

"The positive run of UK economic data coupled with the political uncertainty in the US could see the 1.30 mark as a base to go long from."

The strength of the UK currency weighed on the FTSE 100, which ended the day down nearly 0.9 per cent or 67.05 points at 7,436.42.

Across Europe, the French Cac 40 and German Dax fell by 0.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

Global stocks and the US dollar have suffered from investor anxiety over growing calls for Mr Trump to be forced out of office, amid reports that the US president told recently fired FBI boss James Comey to drop his investigation into Mr Trump's former security adviser.

In oil markets, Brent crude prices rose 0.8 per cent to 52.05 US dollars per barrel, as the weaker greenback made the US dollar-denominated commodity cheaper for international investors.

In UK stocks, Burberry shares jumped 77p to 1,718p after a 10 per cent rise in annual underlying profits thanks to the weaker pound, which bolstered foreign income.

Royal Mail rose 2.8p to 433.6p after reporting that pre-tax profits rose 25 per cent to £335 million in the year to March 26, with revenue rising one per cent to £9.78 billion.

Land Securities dropped 25p to 1,092p after full-year pre-tax profits collapsed to £112 million from £1.3 billion amid dropping demand in the London office market in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Travel giant Thomas Cook saw shares rise 1.2p to 95.2p as half-year revenues rose 2.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis to £3bn, while bookings to Egypt and Turkey started to recover after terrorist attacks hit demand.

Mothercare shares slumped 4.5p to 124p as it announced a plan for more high street store closures and reported underlying losses of £4.4m for its UK business in the first half of its financial year.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Burberry up 77p to 1,718p, Centrica up 7.5p to 200.9p, Merlin Entertainment up 10p to 516.5p and Marks and Spencer Group up 7.1p to 382.6p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Royal Dutch Shell's "B" shares down 89.5p to 2,161p, Royal Dutch Shell's "A" shares down 76.5p to 2,108.5p, Randgold Resources down 195p to 7,275p, and Provident Financial down 78p to 3,078p.