FTSE hits two-month low amid worries over US debt ceiling
L
ondon’s FTSE 100 index fished at its lowest level in round two months on Wednesday as considerations over the US debt ceiling negotiations continued to weigh on world sentiment.
The 1.8% fall that the index registered through the day was a part of a wider world sell-off which hit markets on each side of the Atlantic.
By the tip of the day the FTSE had settled at 7,627.1, 135.85 factors decrease, after briefly hitting a low of seven,590.24 factors earlier within the day.
“If concerns about the global outlook weren’t sufficient with the China recovery story looking increasingly flaky, we now have the increasingly loud sound of the debt ceiling deadline clock, and the continuing impasse between US policymakers finally attracting the attention of financial markets,” stated CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
“The modest declines of the last two days have accelerated today, with sharp falls across the board, as sentiment continues to deteriorate, raising the question as to whether this is the beginning of a market puke that gets US lawmakers’ attention and generates the urgency required to preserve the fiscal integrity of the US government.”
In Europe, Paris’s Cac 40 closed down 1.9% whereas the Dax in Germany fell by 1.7%.
As markets had been closing within the US, the Wall Street indexes had been additionally down, with each the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones dropping 0.7%.
On forex markets, the pound fell by round 0.4% to 1.237 {dollars} and by 0.2% to 1.15 euros.
In firm news, shares in Marks & Spencer soared by 12.7% after the corporate stated it had managed to extend gross sales regardless of stress on households throughout the nation.
Profits had been additionally greater than anticipated, the corporate introduced on Wednesday morning, pushing shares to their highest in a 12 months.
It was proof, bosses stated, that the corporate’s turnaround plan is working as meant. The plan has seen dozens of massive retailers shut.
Meanwhile, shares in Aviva plunged by 5.4%. It got here as an activist investor, Cevian Capital, introduced that it had offered almost its whole stake within the insurance coverage large
Cevian’s possession had peaked at round 6.5%, or 150 million shares, in October final 12 months. On Wednesday it revealed that it solely had 60,000 shares left.
The greatest risers on the FTSE 100 had been Intertek, up 141p to 4,333p, Ocado, up 9.2p to 411.8p, SSE, up 30.5p to 1,900p, Fresnillo, up 5.2p to 661.2p, and Airtel Africa, up 0.4p to 117.6p.
The greatest fallers on the FTSE 100 had been Prudential, down 69.5p to 1,101.5p, Aviva, down 24.9p to 398.9p, Persimmon, down 71.0p to 1,215p, Phoenix Group, down 26.6p to 555p, and Taylor Wimpey, down 5.6p to 117.5p.