BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The U.K. stock market's benchmark index FTSE 100 fell on Tuesday as rising geopolitical tensions and worries about inflation and interest rates rendered the mood bearish. Higher bond yields and prospects of interest rate hikes by some major central banks, including the Federal Reserve and the ECB hurt as well.
Mining stocks were among the major losers, while energy stocks gained on higher oil prices.
The FTSE 100 was down 88.96 points or 0.81% at 10,735.30 nearly half an hour past noon.
Endeavour Mining tumbled more than 8%. Fresnillo shed nearly 6%, while Antofagasta and Anglo American Plc drifted lower by 4.3% and 3.7%, respectively. Rio Tinto dropped nearly 2%, while Glencore gained about 0.75%, bucking the trend.
Among bank stocks, Barclays dropped about 3.3% and Standard Chartered eased by about 1.3%. HSBC Holdings, Natwest Group and Lloyds Banking Group posted modest losses.
ICG, Autotrader Group, Melrose Industries, Weir, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Computacenter, IAG, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Persimmon, Standard Life, Whitbread, JD Sports Fashion, Experian, Investec, Barratt Redrow and Metlen Energy & Metals lost 2%-5%.
WPP drifted lower after announcing plans to eliminate upto 1,000 additional positions by the end of the year.
Ashtead Technology Holdings dropped more than 4% after the subsea equipment rental specialist reported a 7 percent fall in first-half EBITA earnings.
BP and Shell climbed 4% and 1.7%, respectively.
Reckitt & Benckiser advanced 3.75%. Airtel Africa, Convatec Group, Tesco, Smith & Nephew, Sainsbury (J) and Imperial Brands also moved higher.
Data from S&P Global showed the S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI eased to 51.7 in August from 51.9 in the previous month, the lowest in five months, but revised higher from the flash estimate of 51.5.
Data from the Nationwide Building Society showed house prices in UK grew 1.6% on a yearly basis, faster than the 1.4% rise in July but weaker than economists' forecast of 2%. Month-on-month, house prices gained 0.2%, in contrast to the 0.1% fall in July.
A report from British Retail Consortium showed UK shop price inflation accelerated to 1.5% year-on-year in August from 0.9% in July, reaching its highest level since February 2024. Food inflation climbed to a four-month high of 2.8% from 2.2%, with particular pressure on ambient foods that are typically imported and processed. Meanwhile, non-food inflation rose sharply to 0.9% from 0.2%, also the highest since February 2024.
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