Bank and supermarket stocks weigh on London’s FTSE 100
The top index closed 7.54 points lower, or 0.1%, at 7,519.72, with Barclays, NatWest, Sainsbury’s and Tesco among the worst performers.
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Your support makes all the difference.Banking and supermarket stocks helped drag London’s FTSE 100 lower on Tuesday as five-year mortgage deals surpassed 6% for the first time this year.
The lacklustre trading session came amid a pause in US trading as America celebrated Independence Day.
Concerns grew after new data showed the typical five-year fixed-rate residential mortgage jumped above 6% for the first time since November last year.
Top bankers have been summoned to a meeting with the financial watchdog this week to discuss concerns that interest rate increases are not being passed onto savers, while the cost of mortgages has been hiked.
Labour MP Dame Angela Eagle said the “blatant profiteering has been shocking”, accusing banks of not treating customers fairly nor respectfully.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s said that food price inflation was starting to fall, as supermarkets are also facing accusations that they have been profiteering from higher prices and not passing on wholesale price reductions quickly enough.
Banking stocks Barclays and NatWest, and supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Tesco, were among the worst performers on the FTSE 100 on Tuesday.
The index closed 7.54 points lower, or 0.1%, at 7,519.72.
Other European stocks also failed to get off the ground. Germany’s Dax fell 0.26% and France’s Cac dipped 0.23%.
It was a better day for the pound which jumped 0.5% against the euro to 1.1680, and up 0.34% against the US dollar to 1.2734.
In company news, shares in Naked Wines slumped after the firm warned investors over weaker-than-expected quarterly sales and delayed annual results.
The retailer said its founder and former chief executive Rowan Gormley was returning to steer the company through a turnaround, meaning current chairman David Stead will leave his role after just nine months.
Shares in Naked Wines dropped by 10% following the news.
Low-cost airline Ryanair said it flew 9% more passengers in June, compared to the year before.
However, the firm revealed that about 160,000 passengers were affected after it cancelled more than 900 flights last month, amid disruption from air traffic control strikes across France. Its share price edged up by 0.41%.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Ocado Group, up 13.4p to 615.2p, AstraZeneca, up 206p to 10,580p, Segro, up 14.2p to 740.6p, Land Securities Group, up 9p to 597p, and Rightmove, up 6.6p to 526.6p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100were IMI, down 36p to 1,593p, Barclays, down 3.06p to 152.56p, Sainsbury, down 5p to 269.6p, Tesco, down 4.2p to 247.8p, and NatWest Group, down 3.8p to 241.9.