Shares end day in negative territory

The FTSE 100 ended in the red yesterday as housebuilders and mining stocks weighed on the index.

London’s blue-chip market suffered a fall of 58.71 points, or 0.83%, to close at 6,980.24, with Antofagasta, Fresnillo and Anglo American all ending in negative territory.

Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, said: “The heavy weighted miners were taking a beating after manufacturing data from China overnight highlighted the growing impact of the US trade war. Chinese manufacturing activity dropped to the lowest level in two years with a PMI of just 50, whereby 50 separate contraction from expansion. High tariffs that have been applied to both US and Chinese goods are starting to be reflected in economic data, as the G20 summit begins.”

The pound also came under pressure, with Brexit once again guiding the hand of currency traders. Sterling dropped 0.2% versus the US dollar at 1.276.

West stocks highlighted

David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets, said: “GBP/USD is lower on account of the firmer US and uncertainty surround Brexit. There is little support for Theresa May’s deal, some MP’s are fearful of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit and now, Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council said it’s ‘no deal or no Brexit’. The pressure is mounting on Mrs May, and the pound.”

Against the euro, the British currency was up 0.5% at 1.127.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX was down 0.36% while France’s CAC 40 lost 0.1%.

A barrel of Brent Crude was trading 1% lower at $59 a barrel.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were GlaxoSmithKline up 24p at 1,621.6p, Centrica up 1.6p at 137.75p, Shire up 45p at 4,550p and Vodafone up 1.18p at 168.94p. The biggest fallers were NMC Health down 244p at 3,298p, Tui down 79p at 1,117p, Antofagasta down 36p at 800.4p and Melrose Industries down 7.8p at 176.6p.