BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The U.K. stock market's benchmark FTSE 100 drifted lower on Tuesday, weighed down by losses in mining and bank stocks. Rising political unrest in several parts of Europe, particularly in France and Italy, and high oil prices hurt sentiment.
Concerns over AI-related valuations weighed as well.
Brent crude prices moved sharply higher due to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia infrastructure and reports of vessel attacks in the Gulf. Brent crude front-month futures climbed to $111.75 a barrel, gaining nearly 2% over previous closing level.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 64.47 points or 0.6% at 10,700.22 a few minutes before noon.
Miners Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and Fresnillo dropped 4%, 3.1% and 2.7%, respectively. Endeavour Mining shed 2.1%, while Glencore and Anglo American Plc eased 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively. BHP declined sharply after reporting a steep fall in copper production in the first quarter.
Among bank stocks, Standard Chartered declined 2.7%, Lloyds Banking Group lost 2% and Natwest Group drifted down 1.7%. Barclays and HSBC Holdings shed 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively.
Shares of distribution and services group Bunzl dropped more than 2% despite the company posting a rise in third-quarter revenue and maintaining its annual forecast.
Diploma, Halma, Polar Capital Technology Trust, Weir, Scottish Mortgage, Lion Finance, Computacenter, Aberdeen Group and IG Group Holdings were among the other notable losers.
Ithaca Energy, National Grid, AstraZeneca, Coca-Cola HBC, Tesco, Reckitt Benckiser, Convatec Group, SSE, United Utilities, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Severn Trent and Shell gained 0.5%-1.3%.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics showed the UK unemployment rate declined in the three months to August. The ILO unemployment rate stood at 4.7% in the June to August period compared to 4.9% in the preceding period, the data showed.
Economists had forecast the rate to remain unchanged at 4.9%.
In the three months to August, average earnings including bonus grew 3.7% from a year ago, weaker than forecast of 3.8%. This followed a 3.9% increase in the previous period.
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