Footsie falls on investor fears for global ecomony

THE FTSE 100 traded lower yesterday as investors continued to be concerned about the state of the global economy.

London’s blue-chip index closed down 71.93 points, or 1.05%, at 6,773.24.

David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “The disappointing industrial production and retail sales figures from China on Friday are still playing on investors’ minds. Investors are worried about global growth, and the increased speculation about a possible US recession is adding to the weak sentiment.”

Elsewhere, the pound was slightly higher due to the weakness in the US dollar.

Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, said: “The dollar was trading 0.3% lower versus a basket of currencies as investors digested disappointing data and looked ahead to the Fed’s policy announcement on Wednesday.”

Sterling was up 0.1% against the US dollar at 1.260 but was down 0.1% versus the euro to 1.111 at the London market close.

In corporate news, online retailer Asos warned over sales and profits after a “significant deterioration” in trading in the run-up to Christmas.

Asos shares closed down 1,572p to 2,614p after they collapsed in morning trade, dropping 36% to 2,667p at the market open.

Asos’s profit warning sent shares of rivals lower, with FTSE 100 high street bellwethers Marks & Spencer and Next both closing 4.6% lower.

Quiz shares fell 20%, JD Sports was down 7.1%, Sports Direct was down 0.8%, Dixons Carphone dropped 1.5%, and Associated British Foods, the owner of discount retailer Primark, was down 3.2%.

Energy giants SSE and npower called off their merger, blaming “challenging market conditions” and the Government’s price cap. The companies said the deal has been affected by multiple factors, including the performance of their businesses, clarity on the final level of the Government’s default tariff cap and changing energy market conditions. SSE shares fell 34.50p to 1,055p.

Just Eat was described by one of its shareholders as the worst-performing online food firm in the world as it called for a radical shake-up. Cat Rock Capital, which owns 2% of the firm, yesterday urged Just Eat’s board to “address key issues” and sell off non-core assets, such as its interest in the ifood business in Brazil and other non-european businesses. Just Eat shares rose 2p to 579p.

A barrel of Brent crude was trading down 2.3% at 59.67 US dollars (£47.36).

Germany’s DAX was down 1% and France’s CAC 40 fell 1.03%.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were BHP Group up 43.20p to 1,659.8p, Rio Tinto up 87p to 3,762.5p, Antofagasta up 18p to 796p, and Glencore up 3.3p to 292.95p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Wood Group down 33.80p to 534p, NMC Health down 152p to 2,910p, GVC Holdings down 35.50p to 686p, and Next down 201p to 4,137p. WALL Street’s major indexes all slid more than two per cent on yesterday, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at its lowest level in 14 months, on concerns of slowing economic growth ahead of a highly-anticipated decision from the Federal Reserve this week on the course of interest-rate hikes.

The S&P 500 hit its lowest level since October 2017 to breach lows reached during its sell-off in February.

A profit warning from British retailer ASOS raised concerns about weakening consumer strength, despite robust US retail sales data on Friday. The National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index indicated homebuilder sentiment had fallen to a three-and-ahalf-year low.

The S&P 500 briefly erased its losses but the index resumed its steep decline after Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of Doubleline Capital, said that stocks were in a bear market.

Investors said market skittishness was likely to persist heading into the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

An indication that the Fed would slow its pace of interest-rate hikes could calm markets, but the central bank’s intentions remain unclear, said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Dow Jones fell 507.53 points to 23,592.98, the S&P 500 lost 54.01 points to 2,545.94 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 156.93 points to 6,753.73.