BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks fell sharply on Friday, with coronavirus worries and weak earnings updates from the likes of Apple and Amazon weighing on sentiment.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared that the U.K. was officially past the peak of coronavirus infections - but asked people to continue to comply with lockdown restrictions.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she would like to see China work together with her organization, and others, to get to the bottom of exactly how the coronavirus started.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 139 points, or 2.36 percent, at 5,761 after suffering its worst daily drop in a month on Thursday.
Miners fell across the board, with Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore falling 4-5 percent.
Baker and takeaway food group Greggs slumped 5.4 percent. The company put its plan to reopen branches in the U.K. on hold, fearing there could be huge queues.
Home builder Barratt Developments fell about 1 percent. The company has announced plans for a phased reopening of its construction sites, which were closed on March 27 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
International Airlines Group tumbled 3.8 percent. The Anglo-Spanish multinational airline holding company said that iberia líneas aéreas de españa s.a. operadora, sociedad unipersonal and Vueling Airlines, S.A. have signed syndicated financing agreements for 750 million euros and 260 million euros respectively.
Ryanair Holdings plunged over 4 percent. The Group expects to report a net loss of over 100 million euros in the first quarter, with further losses expected in the second quarter due to the substantial decline in traffic arising from Covid-19 fleet groundings.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group rallied 2.6 percent after the bank set aside 802 million pounds ($1 billion) for bad loans.
In economic releases, U.K. house prices increased at the fastest pace since 2017 before the coronavirus pandemic struck the economy, data published by the Nationwide Building Society showed.
House prices increased 3.7 percent on a yearly basis in April, faster than the 3 percent rise in March. The annual growth was forecast to ease to 2.5 percent.
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