By Shubham Batra and Shristi Achar A
(Reuters) -British stocks started the week on a downbeat note, with a sell-off across all sectors except precious metal miners and defence on Monday ahead of the national budget later this week.
Hipgnosis Songs hit a record low after extending its halt of dividend payments.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index slipped 0.6% and the mid-cap FTSE 250 fell 0.5%.
Hipgnosis dropped 8.2% to a record low, after steep declines in asset valuations led the British music investor to halt dividend payments for the "foreseeable future".
"The whole point of investing in a music royalties fund was to sit back and let the cash roll in, but dividends are no longer on the menu for Hipgnosis shareholders," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
While signs of easing inflation have kept investor sentiment afloat, the focus is now on finance minister Jeremy Hunt's pre-election budget on Wednesday for clues on potential tax cuts and the state of the economy.
Automobiles, personal goods and chemicals led sectoral declines, down between 1.6% and 2.7%.
The benchmark FTSE 100 has underperformed global equities recently due to lack of exposure to the technology sector, which has powered gains elsewhere fuelled by an artificial intelligence-led stocks rally.
Precious metal miners were the top gainers for the day with a 3.2% jump as gold prices hit a three-month peak, driven by increased bets for a June interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve. [GOL/]
Online supermarket Ocado (LON:OCDO) slipped to the bottom of the FTSE 100 with a 6.5% fall after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) cut its target price on the stock to 375p from 390p.
Mondi (LON:MNDI) too was among the bottom performers, falling 2.0% after a report said the packaging firm was revising its takeover proposal for its smaller rival DS Smith. DS Smith shares slid 1.3%.