** Shares of British sportswear retailer JD Sports JD.L up 7.2% at 87.6 pence
** Top gainer on FTSE 100 index .FTSE which is up 0.3%
** Co's retail partner Nike forecast smaller-than-expected drop in Q1 revenue on Thursday, and said it would cut its reliance on production in China for U.S. market to mitigate the impact from tariffs
** "(Nike's) solid results in the sports category is also a reassuring indicator of overall demand as attention focuses on consumer trends in the US market," J.P.Morgan says
** JD down 8.9% so far this year
(Reporting by DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru)
((DhanushVignesh.Babu@thomsonreuters.com;))