By Shubham Batra
(Reuters) – The UK’s benchmark stock indexes fell on Thursday and were set to end the month with heavy losses as investors lost hope of bigger rate cuts over the next year, while Shell jumped after smashing profit forecasts.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 slipped 0.6% by 0830 GMT, hitting its lowest since Aug. 8 and on track for its second week of losses. The midcap FTSE 250 index was down 0.5%.
For the month, the FTSE 100 was down 1.5% and the FTSE 250 has retreated 2.5%.
Higher inflation, fuelled by Britain’s new big-spending budget plans, is likely to prevent the Bank of England from cutting rates over the next year by as much as investors had expected, further setting it apart from other central banks.
Traders now expect around 95 basis points of rate cuts by the end of 2025, down from 125 bps earlier, after Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced the biggest tax increases in three decades in her first budget on Wednesday.
Only three of the 22 subindexes were higher in early trade, with the biggest boost from a 0.5% rise in the oil and gas sector.
That was as Shell jumped over 1% after its third-quarter profit of $6 billion exceeded forecasts as weaker oil refining and trading results were offset by higher LNG sales.
The personal goods sector was the top gainer though, advancing nearly 1% as Burberry rose 1.7% after HSBC upgraded the stock to “buy”.
Among other movers, Smith + Nephew slid 12%, the most on the benchmark index, after the UK’s largest medical products maker cut its annual underlying revenue growth forecast, hurt by its weaker-than-expected performance in China.
Bottler Coca-Cola HBC climbed 2.3% after it raised its annual forecast and exceeded market estimates for third-quarter organic revenue growth on strong demand for energy, coffee and sparkling drinks.
Whitbread was down 2.1% as it traded without entitlement to its latest dividend payout.
(Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
