By Purvi Agarwal and Roshan Abraham
(Reuters) -British equities closed higher on Tuesday, buoyed by construction stocks, a day after a brutal sell-off across markets triggered by fears of a U.S. recession.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended up 0.2%, after its biggest fall in over a year on Monday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index added 0.6% after it fell to its lowest level in over three months in the previous session.
Weaker U.S. data in the last week stoked fears of recession in the world’s biggest economy, pushing investors to safe-haven assets amid a sell-off that battered markets globally.
But data on Monday showing a rebound from four-year lows in U.S. services sector activity in July, alongside comments from Fed policymakers, helped to reverse some of the losses.
“There’s a little bit of everybody taking a bit of a breather today and thinking about how to digest the moves we’ve seen … from a longer term perspective,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.
In London, construction and materials shares were among the top gainers, up 1.1%, lifted by a 11.6% rise in Keller Group after it reported half-yearly results. The stock topped the FTSE 250 index.
Growth in UK construction activity sped up sharply in July after the Labour Party’s landslide election win, with activity growing at the fastest pace in more than two years, a survey showed.
Elsewhere, Domino’s Pizza Group fell to the bottom of the mid-cap index after it lowered its full-year profit forecast as it decided to pass on expected lower food costs to franchisees and offer more value deals to customers.
Travis Perkins was down 0.4% after the building materials supplier cut its annual earnings guidance after reporting a 33% decline in first-half profit.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Mark Potter)
