FTSE 100 Slips As Wage Growth Falls

U.K. stocks traded lower on Tuesday as data showed U.K. wage growth softened to the lowest in more than two years in the three months to August, adding support to expectations that the central bank will cut interest rates further at the next meeting.

In the three months to August, average earnings excluding bonus increased 4.9 percent from the previous year, slower than the 5.1 percent increase in the three months to July.

This was the slowest rise since June 2022 and also matched expectations. The unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.0 percent in three months to August, while payroll employment decreased 15,000 from the prior month to 30.3 million in September.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 31 points, or 0.4 percent, at 8,261 after gaining half a percent in the previous session.

Energy giant BP Plc slumped 4.2 percent and peer Shell fell nearly 3 percent as oil prices slid as much as $3 to a near two-week low on the back of a weaker demand forecast from IEA and after reports that Israel’s planned retaliatory attack on Iran won’t target nuclear or oil facilities.

Office-rental company Workspace Group dropped about 1 percent after like-for-like occupancy fell due to an unusually high number of customers vacating in the second quarter.

Bellway soared 7.2 percent after the company delivered a reassuring assessment on the state of the U.K.’s housing market recovery.