Banks, energy stocks drag FTSE 100 lower as Deliveroo slumps on debut

London's FTSE 100 fell on Wednesday, dragged down by banks and energy stocks, while food delivery company Deliveroo's shares slumped more than 26% on its trading debut. Deliveroo Holdings Inc closed down 26.3%, after diving as much as 30% in its trading debut in a blow to Britain's ambitions to attract fast-growing tech companies to the London market.


Reuters | London | Updated: 31-03-2021 22:01 IST | Created: 31-03-2021 21:54 IST
Banks, energy stocks drag FTSE 100 lower as Deliveroo slumps on debut
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London's FTSE 100 fell on Wednesday, dragged down by banks and energy stocks, while food delivery company Deliveroo's shares slumped more than 26% on its trading debut. The blue-chip index closed 0.9% lower, with oil heavyweights BP and Royal Dutch Shell falling more than 2.2%.

Banks were the biggest drags to the index while consumer discretionary stocks including Flutter Entertainment, Kingfisher Plc, Compass Group and Burberry Group Plc were among the top decliners. The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index ended 0.3% lower.

Britain's coronavirus-hammered economy grew more quickly than previously thought in the final three months of last year but still shrank by the most in more than three centuries in 2020 as a whole, official data showed on Wednesday. "Whilst there are still clear structural headwinds for the UK economy, the near-term cyclical outlook is very strong," said Michael Matthews, fixed-income fund manager at Invesco.

"COVID restrictions are being eased, fiscal and monetary policy is highly supportive, credit growth is robust and the build-up of excess savings leaves scope for additional spending." The FTSE 100 has rebounded more than 34% from a March 23 coronavirus-driven closing low last year, but it has struggled to reach pre-pandemic highs on increasing worries about inflation and the economic impact of lockdowns.

Topps Tiles fell 0.3% after reporting lower half-year sales, but the tile retailer said it expects sales to rise "sharply" and margins to recover to normal levels as the current lockdown in the United Kingdom gradually eases by the middle of April. Deliveroo Holdings Inc closed down 26.3%, after diving as much as 30% in its trading debut in a blow to Britain's ambitions to attract fast-growing tech companies to the London market.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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