By Kit Rees and Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index fell on Friday, dragged down by a sell-off in emerging markets that hit shares of companies exposed to those regions, as investors digested the implications of Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election.
The blue chip FTSE 100 index (FTSE) dropped 1.4 percent to 6,730.43 points by the close, falling for the second session in a row and underperforming the broader European market. A rise in sterling weighed on the index.
The emerging markets sell-off hit shares of companies such as Standard Chartered (L:STAN) and South Africa-facing paper and packing maker Mondi (L:MNDI), which dropped 6.3 percent and 4.7 percent respectively and were among those declining the most.
A surprise win for Trump on Tuesday rocked emerging markets, which continued their sell-off on Friday on worries he will introduce protectionist policies on trade.
A broader reflationary trade on expectations that Trump will increase spending on infrastructure also hurt emerging market-exposed equities.
"People are worried about a ramp-up in developed market yields drawing out the oxygen from emerging markets, which have, in the last many years, been higher-yielding than the developed markets," said Ken Odeluga, market analyst at City Index.
"If there's no reason to actually keep your money there because yields are rising in the developed world, particularly in the U.S., then that is a negative."
Precious metals miners Fresnillo (L:FRES) and Randgold Resources (L:RRS) likewise extended their slump from the previous session, down 8.9 and 4.5 percent respectively.
That followed a retreat in the price of gold to a five-month low after Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said on Thursday that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates more quickly if Washington uses lower taxes or higher spending to boost economic growth (GOL).
Rising yields on dollar assets reduce the appeal of safe- haven gold.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.4 percent for the week, near a six- week low touched last week. It rose in the first three sessions of the week, as investors bet on a Hillary Clinton victory in Tuesday's presidential election and then were reassured by Trump's commitment to infrastructure spending and the restrained tone in his acceptance speech.
However, the FTSE's combination of emerging market exposure and high number of "defensive" stocks, which underperform in times of optimism over growth, have seen the index fall back over the last two sessions.
Outside of the blue chips, building materials supplier SIG (L:SHI) plummeted more than 20 percent and weighed on the UK FTSE 250 (FTMC) index, which declined 1.2 percent.
SIG issued a profit warning, citing softer trading after the Britain's vote to leave the European Union, and added that its chief executive was to leave the company.
"In the face of such uncertainty, we can no longer recommend that investors buy the shares. With such a large cut to estimates, we expect short-term share price weakness," analysts at Jefferies said in a note.