London’s FTSE 100 flat; energy, miners lead decline (Reuters) – London’s FTSE 100 was flat on Monday as investors turned cautious ahead of key inflation data in the United States, while a downtick in oil and copper prices weighed. The blue-chip FTSE 100 was unchanged after touching a two-week high on Friday, while the mid-cap […]
London’s FTSE 100 flat; energy, miners lead decline
(Reuters) – London’s FTSE 100 was flat on Monday as investors turned cautious ahead of key inflation data in the United States, while a downtick in oil and copper prices weighed.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 was unchanged after touching a two-week high on Friday, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was off 0.1% at 0709 GMT.
The energy sector fell 0.3%, in tandem with oil prices, as concerns of higher-for-longer interest rates in the U.S. strengthened the dollar. [O/R]
Industrial miners slipped 0.7%, as concerns of muted Chinese demand kept traders on the sidelines, pulling down copper prices. [MET/L]
The Bank of England (BoE) kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday, with renewed hopes of an August rate cut after comments from policymakers.
A domestic inflation report last week showed that headline inflation in the economy had fallen to 2% – the BoE’s target.
In the U.S., the personal consumption expenditure numbers (PCE) are due on Friday. Investors are banking on the data to show a renewed moderation in inflation.
Also due are the gross domestic product numbers in the UK, that will shed more light on the state of the British economy , after strong retail sales data on Friday tempered some optimism from the BoE’s comments.
Prudential gained 4.6% after the insurance group said it planned a $2 billion share buyback programme, to be completed by mid-2026.
Shares of HG Group gained 4.7% after the ecommerce company agreed to sell its portfolio of luxury goods website to Fraser’s Group for an undisclosed sum. Fraser’s Group was up 0.9%.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
