Fears escalate

Fiona Cincotta
By :  ,  Senior Market Analyst
London stocks continued down, after a negative close on a Wall Street weighed down by fears of a recession, US-China trade tensions and the possible reaction of Chinese authorities to the continuing and increasingly violent protests in Hong Kong.

Asian shares all lost ground, led by the Hang Seng on -1.90%, the Shanghai Composite on -0.76%, and the Nikkei losing -1.11%. US trading followed suit, led by the Dow on -1.48%, and with the S&P500 and the Nasdaq losing -1.22% and -1.20% respectively. The slowing global economy depressed demand for oil, (-0.53%), pushing investors towards safe-haven investments such as gold, which gained just over 1%, and 10-Year US Treasuries, whose yields are now approaching a three-year low.  

Financials suffering

Financials on the falling FTSE 100 (-0.32%) continue to suffer, with Schroders, Hargreaves Lansdown and Prudential all among the laggards. Schroders lost -2.69%, while Hargreaves Lansdown lost -2.18% and Prudential was down -1.93%, ahead of the planned break-up of the group. Leading the benchmark were a mix of companies from different sectors. TUI was the lead performer, with its shares up 2.44%, with Just Eat gaining 1.77%.

The euro was down against sterling (0.927), and sterling remained flat against the dollar at 1.206.

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Related tags: Indices UK 100

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