London stocks ebb as miners dip on growth concerns

UK's FTSE 100 edged down on Tuesday as mining stocks weighed on the commodity-heavy index on fears more aggressive interest rate hikes from central banks may lead to a global economic slowdown.

UK's FTSE 100 edged down on Tuesday as mining stocks weighed on the commodity-heavy index on fears more aggressive interest rate hikes from central banks may lead to a global economic slowdown. The FTSE 100 index was down 0.2% at 0703 GMT, while the domestically focussed mid-cap index slipped 0.2%.

Miners declined 1.9% as rising COVID-19 cases in China and a looming U.S. interest rate hike raised fresh concerns for demand of metals. Heavyweight drugmaker AstraZeneca declined 2.5%.

The UK market was closed on Monday for the August bank holiday and is playing catch up to European and U.S. markets that got off to a negative start to the week after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday cautioned against expecting a swift undoing of its rate tightening. Inflation fears continued to mount after data showed Britain's services businesses reported a record increase in costs over the past three months and are downbeat about the future, as inflationary headwinds look set to squeeze demand further.