Aug 8 (Reuters) – London’s FTSE 100 slipped on Thursday, tracking global market sentiment, while investors assessed corporate updates and top players traded without entitlement to their dividend payouts.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) and the mid-cap FTSE 250 index (.FTMC) ended the day with a 0.3% loss.
The benchmark index logged its best day in more than four months on Wednesday, extending a broad recovery to a second session after a heavy sell-off rattled stock markets on Monday.
Retailers (.FTNMX404010) led losses on the index with a 1.1% decline, while the real estate (.FTUB3510) mostly pulled down the benchmark index.
Many top players like AstraZeneca (AZN.L), BP (BP.L) Natwest (NWG.L) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L) also traded ex-dividend, pushing the heavyweights lower between 0.5% and 1.8%.
However, non-life insurers (.FTNMX551030) gained 1.6%. They were pulled up by a 10% gain in Beazley (BEZG.L), which upgraded its combined ratio forecast for 2024 after first-half pre-tax profit nearly doubled to $728.9 million. The stock topped the FTSE 100 index.
Automobile and auto parts sector (.FTNMX401010) led the sectoral gains, rising 3.6%, as TFI Fluid Systems (TIFS.L) gained 11% after its half-yearly results.
Meanwhile, a survey showed that Britain’s jobs market showed further signs of cooling in July and employers increased pay more slowly. The data will form part of the Bank of England’s discussions about when to cut interest rates again.
Among other stocks, British gambling group Entain (ENT.L) climbed 5.1% on raising its annual net gaming revenue and earnings forecast after a better-than-expected second-quarter performance.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK.L) gained 8.3% after the company raised its annual group forecast.
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Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Jonathan Oatis
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