UK stocks fall as market turns risk-off, life insurance shares drag

London stocks started the year on a sombre note, dragged by losses in life insurance shares and a rise in treasury yields, ahead of the benchmark index's completion of 40 years. The blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 0.2% on Tuesday, after hitting an over seven-month high earlier in the session, and the mid-cap FTSE 250 index slumped 0.5%.

London stocks started the year on a sombre note, dragged by losses in life insurance shares and a rise in treasury yields, ahead of the benchmark index's completion of 40 years.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 0.2% on Tuesday, after hitting an over seven-month high earlier in the session, and the mid-cap FTSE 250 index slumped 0.5%. Yields on the 10-year benchmark note rose 12 basis points to 3.661%, tracking the moves in U.S. treasuries.

"As the FTSE 100 celebrates its 40th birthday, the UK stock market finds itself in a quagmire of existential angst," said Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell. "The headline index has made almost no progress since the start of the century, and in the last decade the Footsie has been totally eclipsed by the US stock market."

Life insurance stocks led the losses with a 1.7% fall, while aerospace and defence stocks hit a record high with a 0.7% jump. Britain's manufacturing sector suffered a setback in its return to growth attempts as output and employment fell more sharply in December than in the previous month, according to a survey.

Meanwhile, prices charged by British store chains rose at the slowest pace in a year and a half in December, an industry group said. Data showed the British arm of supermarket chain Aldi reported an 8% rise in sales in the four-week period ended Dec. 24 to top 1.5 billion pounds ($1.91 billion) for the first time, while smaller rival Lidl GB posted a 12% increase in the same period.

Among individual movers, Marks and Spencer rose 2.2% after Exane BNP Paribas raised the retailer's stock rating to "outperform" from "neutral". Shares of HSBC dropped 1.0% as its subsidiary HSBC Continental Europe completed the sale of its retail banking business in France to Crédit Commercial de France.