FTSE drops further as pound slides to two-month low
London’s top index finished 47.90 points, or 0.58%, lower to end the day at 8,258.64.
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Your support makes all the difference.The FTSE 100 slipped lower for the fourth consecutive day as the pound struck a two-month low against the dollar.
Miners and commodity firms were among the fallers as metal prices receded following a spike in value earlier in the week.
Strong earnings updates from WPP and Reckitt Benckiser provided some positivity but were ultimately unable to halt a largely lacklustre session.
London’s top index finished 47.90 points, or 0.58%, lower to end the day at 8,258.64.
Across the Channel, the Cac 40 ended 0.5% lower for the day and the Dax index was down 0.23%.
In the US, the main markets opened in negative territory amid notable slumps for Boeing and McDonald’s.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “The lack of enthusiasm among investors to chase this market is palpable.
“At least we have Tesla earnings tonight to liven things up, and which will help inject a bit of excitement into the market.
“Even Lloyds has been unable to hold on to its gains after today’s results, with the shares drifting into the red as the day has gone on.”
Meanwhile, sterling slipped to its lowest since August as the dollar strengthened further ahead of the US election.
The pound was down 0.36% at 1.293 US dollars and down 0.16% at 1.200 euros.
In company news, household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser made gains on Wednesday despite posting a fall in third-quarter revenues after a £100 million hit to Mead Johnson baby formula powder sales following tornado damage to a key warehouse.
The Nurofen-to-Dettol maker said like-for-like net revenues fell 0.5% in its third quarter.
Nevertheless, shares finished 4% higher at 4,953p as it held guidance despite the sales fall.
Mulberry and Frasers Group both finished in the red after Mike Ashley’s retail empire withdrew from efforts to strike a takeover deal for the luxury fashion firm.
Frasers said it had decided not to make a firm offer ahead of Monday’s bid deadline in light of Mulberry’s rejection of its latest sweetened approach and “in the absence of proper engagement from the Mulberry board”.
Shares in Mulberry dropped by 4.3% to 110p as a result. Meanwhile, Frasers Group finished down 1.8% at 795.5p.
Banking giant Lloyds started the session higher but drifted into the red before the market close after its latest quarterly update.
Lloyds told shareholders it was seeing signs of improved confidence among consumers but posted a slight drop in profits compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
The company finished trading 0.6% lower at 61.62p.
Elsewhere, the price of oil dropped on the back of an increase in US crude oil inventories.
A barrel of Brent crude oil was down by 1.54% to 74.87 dollars (£57.85) as markets were closing in London.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were WPP, up 47.2p to 820.8p, Reckitt, up 190p to 4,953p, DS Smith, up 14.4p to 477.4p, Barratt Redrow, up 11.9p to 485.3p, and Rentokil, up 6.4p to 378.4p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were 3i Group, down 83p to 3,300p, Anglo American, down 56p to 2,323.5p, Smiths Group, down 36p to 1,577p, Unilever, down 106p to 4,653p, and Endeavour Mining, down 38p to 1,873p.