U.K. stocks were subdued on Tuesday as the pound edged against its main rivals after comments from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey that he was very uneasy about rising inflation.
The pound was also lifted by the latest labor market data showing that the U.K. unemployment rate declined in the third quarter.
The unemployment rate decreased 0.5 percentage points on the quarter to 4.3 percent, the labor force survey revealed. The expected rate was 4.4 percent.
In July to September, annual growth in average total pay including bonuses logged an annual growth of 5.8 percent, bigger than the economists’ forecast of 5.6 percent.
The benchmark FTSE 100 slipped 10 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,342 after ending flat with a positive bias the previous day.
Vodafone jumped 5.3 percent. The telecoms giant raised its forecast for this year’s free cash flow after reporting strong half-yearly performance.
Miners such as Antofagasta and Glencore were seeing modest gains after U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping stressed their responsibility to the world to avoid conflict, whether intended or untended.
Rio Tinto was little changed after it announced an investment in Inobat Auto, a European-based battery technology and manufacturing company.
Premier Foods slumped 4 percent after the food manufacturer reported a fall in pretax profit in the first half of fiscal 2022.
Diageo rallied 2.3 percent. The beverage company said that it expects to grow its organic operating profit by 6-9 percent for fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025.
FTSE 100 Dips As Pound Rises After Jobs Data
2021-11-16 09:38:23
