Oil stocks weigh on FTSE 100; Darktrace slumps

London's FTSE 100 slipped on Wednesday as losses in heavyweight oil stocks outweighed a rebound in miners, while traders held back on uncertainty around a potential UK rate hike. However, signs of slowing growth have raised some doubts about potential hikes. Cybersecurity firm Darktrace Plc extended last week's losses, declining 7.1% after British private-equity firm Vitruvian Partners said that it had sold about 11 million ordinary shares in the company.

London's FTSE 100 slipped on Wednesday as losses in heavyweight oil stocks outweighed a rebound in miners, while traders held back on uncertainty around a potential UK rate hike. The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 index declined 0.2% by 0813 GMT, with gains in metal stocks offset by weakness in oil majors Royal Dutch Shell and BP.

UK's energy subindex fell 0.9%, tracking crude prices after industry data showed a big build in crude oil and distillate stocks in the United States and as pressure mounted on OPEC to increase supply. Many investors are expecting the Bank of England to raise interest rates on Thursday for the first time since the start of the pandemic amid rising inflationary expectations and supply chain problems. However, signs of slowing growth have raised some doubts about potential hikes.

Cybersecurity firm Darktrace Plc extended last week's losses, declining 7.1% after British private-equity firm Vitruvian Partners said that it had sold about 11 million ordinary shares in the company. The domestically focussed mid-cap index dropped 0.1%, with Pets At Home Group down 2.8% after chief executive officer Peter Pritchard agreed to step down.

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