Britain’s leading stock index tumbled on Friday, following the lead of European shares in a broad sell-off as investors were spooked by the prospect of a tightening of financial conditions and political risk.
The FTSE 100 on Friday sank 23.33 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,681.07, falling 0.3 percent from a close of 7,701.77 on June 1.
Germany’s DAX dropped 44.50 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,766.55, an increase of 0.3 percent from 12,724.27 a week earlier.
The pan-European STOXX 600 also edged down 0.82 points, or 0.2 percent, to 385.12, shedding 0.5 percent from a close of 386.91 on Friday last week.
The FTSE 100 saw its third straight week of losses and its worst week in more than two months.
Risk appetite dried up this week as investors in Europe warily eyed a new Italian government and the European Central Bank indicated that it could end ultra-loose monetary policy earlier than expected.
Stark divisions on trade ahead of a G7 leaders’ summit that began on Friday added to investors’ anxieties.
“Events going on that people point to, such as the G7 meeting, are all idiosyncratic things that have their impact, but I think often what you see is a broader story underneath that is affecting everything and is probably exacerbating those situations,” Agilis Investment Management chief investment officer Clark Fenton said.
“I think it comes back to quantitative tightening,” he added.
On Friday, financials were the biggest drag on the FTSE 100, selling off sharply with HSBC Holdings PLC, Prudential Financial Inc, Lloyds Banking Group PLC and Barclays PLC falling 0.5 percent to 1.3 percent.
Energy and mining stocks also sank as investors shed all the sectors seen as most exposed to the business cycle.
Antofagasta PLC, Fresnillo PLC, Anglo American PLC, BHP Billiton PLC and Glencore PLC fell 1.5 percent to 3.1 percent, while oil majors BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC dropped 0.8 percent to 1 percent.
Standard Life Aberdeen PLC shares dropped 3.5 percent, the worst performer on the FTSE 100 after Lloyds Banking sold its remaining stake in the asset manager.
The sell-off took the FTSE 100 to its lowest in more than a week.
Having underperformed European stocks since the June 2016 Brexit vote, it has come back to strength recently, although the past three weeks have driven renewed volatility.
The one silver lining on Friday was telecoms firm BT Group PLC, which outperformed the market and was up 0.6 percent after saying that CEO Gavin Patterson would step down later this year after a poorly received recovery plan.
Auto Trader Group PLC shares also gained 2.3 percent on the mid-cap index, extending its rally since reporting results on Thursday as brokers increased their ratings on the stock.
KAZ Minerals dropped to the bottom of the FTSE 250, down 6.5 percent while mining peers Hochschild Mining PLC and Centamin PLC also fell 2.5 percent to 3 percent.
Additional reporting by staff writer
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
RSS