London’s FTSE 100 fell on Friday, driven by lower metals and mining inventories and growing concerns over an increase in Covid-19 infections in the UK as the index posted a weekly loss.
The blue chip index closed 0.7% or 54 points lower at 7,008, the lowest in a month after rising 0.6%. Commodities trading firm Glencore and metals and mining firm Rio Tinto were down 3.4% respectively. Bank stocks such as Natwest and Barclays were also among the main losers.
However, the biggest drop was reported by fashion house Burberry, which fell 5% even after saying its sales were up and returning to pre-pandemic levels. The group recorded a 1% increase in sales in the first quarter of this fiscal year with the equivalent period in 2019 before the outbreak of the pandemic.
GlaxoSmithKline gained 1.3% after the drugmaker said its anemia drug for patients with kidney failure was successful in late-stage trials.
The domestically focused FTSE 250 mid-cap index fell 0.2%, dragged down by industrials.
Meanwhile, coronavirus infections are worrying investors around the world, as the UK’s chief medical adviser has also sounded the alarm. Chris Whitty warned on Friday that the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 is currently doubling every three weeks or so and could reach “pretty scary numbers” if the trend continues.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index also ended the session down 0.3%, with mining stocks dragging it lower, falling 2.8%.
On Wall Street, the main US indices also fell on Friday after the consumer confidence index fell worse than expected. However, strong retail sales figures and earnings reports limited the losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.8%, the S&P 500 fell 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.8%.
The University of Michigan’s US Consumer Confidence Index stood at 80.8 for the first half of July, down from 85.5 last month, worse than expected. The consumer price index in the United States rose 5.4 percent in June from a year ago, the fastest pace in nearly 12 years.
Asian stocks fell across the board on Monday as pessimism set in following the drop in global markets late last week and the rise in Covid-19 infections regionally.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost nearly 1.5% in the early hours of trading, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.9%. The Australian S & P / ASX 200 fell 0.8%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 1.6%, while the Shanghai Composite edged down 0.3%.
Indian stock markets also got off to a lower start on Monday, as concerns over inflation and coronavirus infections weighed on sentiment. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex lost more than 250 points at the start of trading, while the Nifty50 started with a 100 point decline driven by bank stocks.
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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-07-19 06:09:49
