FTSE falters despite falling pound as European markets spooked by Trump attack
tweets.
“Sparking fears that we could be back on the road to further trade war escalation, the European indices lost their heads.”
The CAC plunged 2%, with the DAX also down 2% after poor results from airline Lufthansa.
At one point, the DAX hit a onemonth low.
A barrel of Brent crude was up 0.71% at 64.16 dollars.
In company news, the FTSE 100 was helped by strong results from BP, making the oil and gas firm the biggest riser on the top index.
Shares closed up 16.2p at 543.2p after bosses posted a drop in halfyear profits but delivered betterthan-expected second-quarter earnings after higher production offset lower oil prices.
Greggs hailed the success of its latest menu additions as profits soared in the first half of the year by 52% to £36.7mn.
But investors were unimpressed, with shares falling 128.8p to 2,255.2p.
Household goods giant Reckitt Benckiser slashed its full-year sales outlook amid a slowdown in demand for baby formula in China.
Shares closed down 215p at 6,455p.
But the biggest faller was British Gas owner Centrica, which watched shares plunge 19%, or 17.26p, to 73.58p, after reporting a pre-tax loss of £446m in the six months to June.
Chief executive Iain Conn also resigned.
Silver miner Fresnillo was the second biggest faller, after revealing revenues slumped 10% for the six months to June and gross profit fell 59%. Shares fell 141p to 653.6p.
The other biggest fallers were IAG, down 23.8p to 414.8p; Imperial Brands down 97.5p at 2,093p and British American Tobacco down 128p at 2,978p.
The biggest risers were BP; Micro Focus up 20.65p at 1,741.45p; JD Sports up 10.8p at 648.4p; Taylor Wimpey up 2.2p at 176.55p and Diageo up 36.5p at 3,448.5p.