Financials lead UK's FTSE 100 lower

The UK's FTSE 100 fell in early trade on Tuesday, led by financials, with Barclays dipping after Qatar Holding cut its stake in the lender, while China-exposed lenders slipped following a credit outlook cut by Moody's. By 0810 GMT, the blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 0.5%, while the more domestically-focussed FTSE 250 mid-cap index was flat.

The UK's FTSE 100 fell in early trade on Tuesday, led by financials, with Barclays dipping after Qatar Holding cut its stake in the lender, while China-exposed lenders slipped following a credit outlook cut by Moody's.

By 0810 GMT, the blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 0.5%, while the more domestically-focussed FTSE 250 mid-cap index was flat. Ratings agency Moody's cut its outlook on China's government credit ratings to "negative" from "stable", citing lower medium-term economic growth and ongoing downsizing of the property sector.

China-exposed lenders HSBC and Standard Chartered fell 1.2% each, while insurer Prudential lost 1.8%. Qatar Holding is looking to sell around 510 million pounds ($643.72 million) of shares in Barclays, one of the banks acting on the deal said late on Monday. Shares of the lender fell 3.4%.

Investors are, meanwhile, watching for the November S&P Global/CIPS services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data, due later in the day. Ashtead Group fell 4.1% after the rental equipment provider reported its second-quarter results.

 

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