By Jack Barnett
Weak results from the UK’s largest companies amid the quieter summer period weighed on market sentiment in the City today.
The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index squeezed out a small gain of 0.08 per cent to close at 7,488.15 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, fell 1.02 per cent to below the 20,000 point threshold.
A string of soft earnings published this morning dimmed investors’ appetite for risky assets.
Fund manager Abrdn swung to a loss in the first six months of this year, driven by traders fleeing stock markets to avoid being burnt by sharp swings in asset prices.
That announcement sent its shares down nearly seven per cent and to the bottom of the FTSE 100.
The firm, alongside another money manager Hargreaves Lansdown, earlier this week was among the biggest risers on the premier index.
Office space provider and FTSE 250-listed IWG slumped to the depths of the mid-cap index despite posting a 22 per cent bump in income. Its shares shed nearly 12 per cent.
Stock prices typically experience sharper price swings in August due to trading volumes slumping as a result of traders heading on holiday.
Although the news stream has loosened, the City is bracing for two flagship pieces of economic data this week.
US inflation data out tomorrow is expected to cool from 9.1 per cent, but could coax the Federal Reserve into a jumbo 100 basis point rate rise if it comes in slightly higher than Wall Street’s expectations, according to investment bank Citi.
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