UK shares fall as mining, China-focussed stocks slip

British shares fell on Wednesday as mining stocks retreated on lower metal prices, while other China-exposed stocks fell as subdued data sparked concerns of slowing demand in the world's second largest economy. Both the blue-chip FTSE 100 and the more domestically-focussed FTSE 250 midcap index fell 0.4%, each.

British shares fell on Wednesday as mining stocks retreated on lower metal prices, while other China-exposed stocks fell as subdued data sparked concerns of slowing demand in the world's second largest economy.

Both the blue-chip FTSE 100 and the more domestically-focussed FTSE 250 midcap index fell 0.4%, each. Industrial metal miners slipped 0.7% as most non-ferrous metals prices declined on a steady dollar and weak global economic data weighing on demand outlook.

A private-sector survey showed China's services activity expanded at the slowest pace in five months in June. "There are fresh concerns about the global economy powering down as data from China's service sector underlines how tepid the post-pandemic recovery has become," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

China-exposed bank HSBC lost 0.7%, while insurer Prudential fell 1.6%. Bucking the trend, Keller Group jumped 11.1% after the engineering contractor said it expected full-year underlying operating profit to be materially ahead of market expectations.

Insurer Legal & General Group said its adoption of global accounting standard IFRS 17 would not alter its strategy, solvency or dividend plans, and it remained on track to achieve its 5-year ambitions. Its shares were down 1.6%. SIG fell 10.1% after the building materials supplier said it expected annual underlying operating profit at the lower end of current market expectations.

The FTSE 100 is up less than 1% so far in 2023 despite reaching record highs earlier this year, as concerns around a global economic slowdown and towering inflation prompting more monetary policy tightening dampened risk appetite. Investors would now be looking out for domestic services activity data for June and minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last meeting due later in the day.

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