The FTSE couldn’t cope with the drag of some of its heavyweights this Tuesday, especially with sterling perking up as lunchtime approached.
With the pound easing its losses against the dollar – cable is now down just 0.2%, lurking just below $1.40 – while taking 0.4% off the euro following a dip in German and Eurozone-wide economic confidence, the FTSE lost the one thing keeping it from the red. The combined heft of HSBC (LON:HSBA) (which fell 3.7%), BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) (which was down 4.1%) and InterContinental Hotels (LON:IHG) (which suffered a 4.3% drop) helped send the UK index 20 or so points lower, taking it to a 5 day low. All this doesn’t bode well for the rest of the week either, with the UK earnings calendar picking up the pace from Wednesday onwards.
The euro’s decline against the pound and the dollar – it slopped half a percent against the greenback following the disappointing, if better than forecast, ZEW economic sentiment reading – couldn’t do much for the region’s indices. The DAX dipped 0.1% to 12365, while the CAC sat effectively unchanged at 5250.
Looking to this afternoon and following yesterday’s bank holiday the US markets are set to play a downbeat game of catch-up, with the Dow Jones facing a 150 point fall after the bell. That would leave the Dow teetering just above 25000, its own 5 day nadir.
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