LONDON, April 30 — Britain’s main index slipped today as mining shares fell following weak data from China and restaurant group Whitbread and mining company Glencore dropped after issuing weak forecasts.
The losses offset gains by Standard Chartered, which surged after it announced buyback plans.
Both the FTSE 100 index and the midcaps dropped 0.2 per cent by 0827 GMT.
Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn, fell 2.7 per cent after forecasting weak room revenue growth in the UK. Glencore dropped 2.5 per cent as severe flooding in Australia led it to lower its 2019 copper output target.
Mining shares were hit as most industrial metals weakened. Data showed factory activity in China, the world’s biggest copper consumer, unexpectedly slowed in April.
“Data from China overnight is bad for risk,” Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said.
That didn’t stop Standard Chartered. The bank’s London-listed shares jumped 4.4 per cent to a nine-month high after it announced plans for a share buyback of up to US$1 billion (RM4.13 billion), its first such in at least 20 years, and posted higher earnings.
DS Smith slipped three per cent after the packaging firm said financial performance for the year had continued in line with its expectations. “There were no fireworks in the pre-close,” Jefferies analysts said.
Among midcaps, Sirius Minerals slumped 13.3 per cent after it set a price range of 15 to 18 pence per share to raise about US$400 million, a discount to yesterday’s closing price of 21.9 pence.
Pub-operator Greene King lost 6.6 per cent, despite forecasting annual pre-tax profit above analysts’ expectations.
“Although this is a good result, we think it will have largely been priced in given the weak comparable and the favourable Easter weather,” JP Morgan analysts wrote of Greene King update. — Reuters
