Burberry resignation drags London markets lower
London’s FTSE 100 edged lower on Monday, dragged down by losses in heavyweight financial and consumer-discretionary stocks. Burberry slipped to the bottom of the index after the resignation of its chief executive officer.
The blue-chip index fell 0.3%, with Burberry tumbling 8.1% after the luxury group said CEO Marco Gobbetti would step down from the role to take up another opportunity in his native Italy.
Life insurers and banks fell 0.8% each and were among the biggest drags to the index.
The domestically focused midcap FTSE 250 index declined 0.2%.
Wizz Air, Ryanair Holdings, British Airways-owner IAG and EasyJet slipped between 1.5% and 2.4% after a report said Germany would attempt to ban British travelers from the European Union regardless of whether they have had a COVID-19 vaccine.
Globally, market sentiment was cautious due to a spike in coronavirus cases across Asia, while investors awaited a batch of global economic data including the U.S. non-farm payroll report on Friday that could shape the Federal Reserve’s policy stance.
“Equity markets are in a state of ambivalence,” said Sebastien
Galy, a senior macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management. “They should find their footing as the week develops.”
“Expectations for the nonfarm payroll [data] are relatively subdued given that we are in the process of reopening the economy,” he said. “A lack of surprise will comfort the market, [for which] tapering is only slowly coming.”
The FTSE 100 has gained 1.3% so far in June and is on track for a fifth straight monthly gain on expectations of a stronger economic recovery on the back of accelerating vaccine rollouts and ultra-loose monetary policies.
However, the FTSE 250 is set for its first monthly drop since January as Britain delayed its complete reopening over concerns over a recent spike in local coronavirus infections.
Among stocks, Informa rose 1.4% to the top of the FTSE 100 after Citigroup raised its price target on the event organizer’s stock. (Reuters)