FSTE dips on jobless claims and US weakness

Writer,

Archived article

Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.

UK markets were weighed down as the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the number of people on UK payrolls fell by 469,000 between March and June this year.

Stocks were also under pressure after US markets sold off with technology-heavy Nasdaq index underperforming the broader S&P 500 index.

At the close the FTSE 100 large-cap index was down 0.7% lower at 6,250 while the FTSE 250 mid-cap index shed 0.6% to 17,321.

Sports betting company GVC was the second-worst performer on the FTSE 100, losing 3.7% to 880p despite a strong performance in the first half of the year and forecast-beating earnings.

Investors were focused instead on the news that veteran chief executive Kenneth Alexander was set to retire with immediate effect.

Recruiter Hays fell 1.3% to 125p as the recruitment company reported that fee income was down by more than a third, and warned that it expected to generate a loss over the summer months.

Germany, its biggest market, reported a 33% decline in fees in the second quarter, while fees in the UK & Ireland fell 42%.

Shares in Anglo American eased 1.2% to £19.30 after the mining company announced a steeper decline in diamond and precious metals output amid lockdowns in southern Africa and lowered its coal output guidance amid Covid-19 related disruption.

Shares in information services company Experian lost 1% to £28.16 after it reported a slight fall in first-quarter revenue as growth in North America kept losses from elsewhere in check.

Insurer Aviva declined 0.4% to 293p after confirming it had completed the sale of Friends Provident International to RL360, a subsidiary of International Financial Group, for £259m.

Energy utility SSE gained 2.5% to £13.97 on the news that while output of electricity from renewable sources in the quarter to end of June was below its planned output, it had successfully issued over £1bn in hybrid bonds.

The company also reported that it continued to target delivery of its five-year dividend plan to 2022-23.

Marshalls climbed 1.1% to 627p as the landscape products group reported a 25% year on year drop in revenue during the six months to 30 June, but said that recent trading has been better than expected.

Royal Bank of Scotland was up 0.4% at 122p on the announcement that its name change to NatWest Group would take effect on 22 July 2020.