UK stocks slip on Russia sanction worries, brokerage downgrades

UK's main equity indexes slipped on Tuesday as investors weighed the prospect of more sanctions against Russia, while bearish brokerage actions hit blue-chip stocks like Vodafone and Lloyds.

UK's main equity indexes slipped on Tuesday as investors weighed the prospect of more sanctions against Russia, while bearish brokerage actions hit blue-chip stocks like Vodafone and Lloyds. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% by 0712 GMT, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 index fell 0.5%.

While overall markets trod with caution, Britain's oil & gas index rose 0.6%, with crude prices trading near $110 a barrel as the United States and Europe planned new sanctions to punish Moscow over civilian killings in Ukraine. Telecoms group Vodafone slipped 0.9% as Berenberg downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy", while Lloyds Banking Group slid 0.3% after Barclays cut to "equal weight".

Weighing on the mid-cap index, cybersecurity company Darktrace dropped 6.3% and price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com fell 6.4% after brokerage downgrades. Transport operator Go-Ahead rose 2.5% after it said it would reinstate its pre-COVID policy of paying a dividend to shareholders from fiscal year 2022.