BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks fell on Wednesday, with disappointing earnings from Lloyds and caution ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve decision on interest rates keeping investors nervous.
In addition, the British pound rebounded slightly from a 28-month low, triggering some profit taking after recent gains.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 30 points or 0.41 percent at 7,615 after declining half a percent in the previous session.
Lloyds Banking Group lost 4.5 percent after posting weaker-than-expected pretax profits. Also, Sky News reported citing sources that the mortgage lender is in exclusive talks to buy a 3.7 billion pound mortgage book from supermarket giant Tesco's banking unit.
Public-services outsourcer Serco jumped over 4 percent after its first-half underlying trading profit rose 29 percent.
Centamin gained 8.2 percent. The gold mining company raised its interim dividend while maintaining annual guidance for 2019.
Funeral firm Dignity lost 8 percent after reporting a fall in first-half pretax profit.
Just Eat, an online food order and delivery service, rallied 2 percent after it posted an improvement in order growth over the first half of the year.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey plummeted 5 percent after posting lower first-half profit.
In economic releases, U.K. house prices increased for the second straight month in July, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed.
House prices grew 0.3 percent month-on-month, faster than the 0.1 percent rise in June and the expected 0.2 percent increase.
Nonetheless, the annual growth in house prices eased to 0.3 percent in July from 0.5 percent in June.
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