U.K. stocks plunged on Thursday as miners and energy companies slumped amid worries about a slowdown in global growth in the second half of the year. Uncertainties about Fed’s tapering plans also dented sentiment.
The benchmark FTSE 100 tumbled 163 points, or 2.3 percent, to 7,005 after ending down 0.2 percent on Wednesday.
Miner Anglo American plummeted 11 percent, Antofagasta fell over 5 percent and Glencore declined 3 percent.
BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell plunged 4-5 percent as oil extended losses on data showing a surprise build in U.S. gasoline inventories.
Shares of McBride plummeted as much as 10 percent. The manufacturer of private label and contract manufactured products said it now expects fiscal 2022 adjusted profit before tax to be 55- 65 percent lower than current market consensus for full year 2021.
Travel and leisure stocks fell amid a surge in cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. EasyJet dropped 1.4 percent, TUI AG gave up 1.7 percent and IAG, the owner of British Airways, declined 2.4 percent.
Drug maker AstraZeneca fell 1.1 percent after its chief executive Pascal Soriot, was named Britain’s highest paid company boss in 2020.
FTSE 100 Tumbles As Miners Drag
2021-08-19 09:23:45
