S&P affirms UK's AAA rating, outlook stable

NEW YORK, July 27 (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Friday affirmed the United Kingdom's AAA rating with a stable outlook, stamping the debt with the agency's highest grade on expectations that the economy will gather steam toward year-end.

"We project that despite recent weakness, the U.K. economy should begin to recover in the second half of 2012 and steadily strengthen, and we expect economic policy to continue focusing on closing the fiscal gap," S&P said in a statement.