US jitters send Footsie south amid sell-off

Market report Hannah Burley

The FTSE 100 followed its global peers into the red as a renewed sell-off on Wall Street continued to drag on equity markets.

London’s top flight ended down 27.61 points at 7,026.99, as investors across the Pond fretted over the prospect of rising interest rates and a slowing Chinese economy, denting the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

In currency, sterling once again found itself hostage to Brexit with ups and downs throughout the day. The pound was down 0.3 per cent against the US dollar at $1.305. Versus the euro, sterling fell 0.3 per cent to €1.136.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “The pound briefly hit a oneweek low against the US dollar despite reports that the UK government was open to extending the Brexit transition period beyond 2020.

“While some of the losses have been on the back of a stronger US dollar, a weaker than expected September retail sales number also weighed a little.

“The pound also came under pressure on reports that the UK government were concerned that EU leaders were close to pulling the plug on Brexit talks.”

In stocks, Unilever ended the day down 37.5p at 3,986.5p, despite seeing sales growth pick up in the third quarter, with revenue rising 3.8 per cent overall to €12.5 billion (about £11bn).

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 included Pearson, up 31.6p at 867p, Randgold ,up194p at 6,258p, and Diageo, up 55.5p at 2,624.5p.

The biggest fallers included CRH ,down95p at 2,222p, Antofagasta, down 27.8p at 767.4p, and Ashtead, down 67.5p at 1,936.5p.