BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks fell again on Wednesday as oil prices plunged and investors fretted about a longer lockdown in the country.
There have now been more than 12,000 deaths from coronavirus in the U.K. The death toll is expected to jump by 50 percent when authorities include deaths occurring outside of hospitals.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 123 points, or 2.13 percent, at 5,668 after declining 0.9 percent in the previous session.
BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell both fell over 5 percent as WTI front month futures dropped to test the $20 level again amid rising oversupply in the global market and worries about plunging demand.
Hunting Plc., an energy services group, plunged 8 percent. The company said the impact of the oil price decline has affected demand within the segments focused on U.S. onshore completions since March end.
Ferguson rose about 1 percent. The plumbing and heating products distributor reported that Group trading to 31 March 2020 was not materially impacted by Covid-19, though revenue growth weakened towards the end of the period.
Smurfit Kappa Group, a provider of paper-based packaging solutions, was declining after reporting its first-quarter results.
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