FTSE 100 Drifts Lower In Cautious Trade

U.K. stocks fell on Monday, with a stronger pound and falling copper prices weighing on markets.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to continue to “behave responsibly” as shops, hairdressers, restaurants, pubs and gyms reopen their doors today in the latest stage of the coronavirus lockdown easing in England.

The benchmark FTSE 100 dropped 36 points, or half a percent, to 6,880 after declining 0.4 percent on Friday.

Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore lost 1-2 percent.

Drug developer C4X Discovery jumped 12.7 percent after announcing a licensing deal with Sanofi.

AstraZeneca was marginally lower. The company announced that its DARE-19 Phase III trial for Farxiga (dapagliflozin) in Covid-19 did not achieve statistical significance for the primary endpoint of prevention measuring organ dysfunction and all-cause mortality.

Budget airlines easyJet and Ryanair fell more than 2 percent on brokerage downgrades.

Imperial Brands rose half a percent. The tobacco company said the appointment of Lukas Paravicini as new Chief Financial Officer would be effective on May 19, 2021.

Hammerson was down 2.5 percent. The real estate investment trust confirmed the Group is in talks on terms of a possible disposal of its retail parks portfolio to Brookfield.