By Khushi Singh and Ankika Biswas
(Reuters) -UK’s main FTSE 100 stock index ended flat on Wednesday as a sharp sell-off in luxury and metal mining shares was offset by gains in aerospace-defence and pharmaceuticals.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was largely unchanged, after rising for the fourth straight session on Tuesday, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 0.5%.
Precious metal miners led declines with a 2.8% slump, its biggest one-day loss in three weeks, while industrial metal miners lost 1.7% as metal prices were hurt by a stronger U.S. dollar and demand concerns from China. [GOL/] [MET/L]
Watches of Switzerland Group was off 3.5% after Exane BNP Paribas downgraded their rating on the stock, while luxury retailer Burberry lost 2.2%, pulling the personal goods index down by 2.4%.
On the contrary, aerospace and defence shares led sector gains with a 1.5% rise, while the pharma sector was up 0.8%, led by 2.1% gains in GSK.
Delaware’s highest court will hear an appeal by GSK and other drugmakers seeking to end over 70,000 lawsuits claiming discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer.
Meanwhile, pound dipped from two-year highs touched against the dollar but remained on track for its biggest monthly gain since November 2023.
Among individual stocks, Direct Line Insurance rose 1.7%, boosting non-life insurers, after Citigroup upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral”.
Meanwhile, Kingfisher dropped 1.2% after Citigroup downgraded the home improvement retailer’s shares to “neutral” from “buy”.
Looking forward, caution also loomed ahead of Nvidia’s quarterly results due after market close, as investors eagerly await the fate of the global AI-driven equity rally. Owing to its back-to-back blockbuster results, market participants have sharply ramped up their expectations for the chip giant.
Friday’s U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure data will also provide investors additional hints on the pace of likely Federal Reserve rate cuts.
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Aurora Ellis)
