LONDON: London stocks fell on Thursday as concerns that a resurgence in coronavirus cases might derail a fragile economic recovery, offsetting a clutch of positive earnings from Royal Dutch Shell and Lloyds Bank.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended flat in choppy trading, with oil major Royal Dutch Shell Plc gaining 3.6% after it posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and increased its dividend.
Lloyds Banking Group Plc added 2.3% after the domestic lender posted a forecast-beating quarterly profit, boosted by a home-loan boom.
After rising as much as 0.6% in the morning trade, the domestically focussed FTSE 250 ended 0.4% lower, dragged down by aero and retailer stocks.
In company news, BT Group Plc reversed course to close 2.5% lower after Britain’s biggest fixed-line and mobile operator said profits probably wouldn’t get back to pre-pandemic levels until 2022-23.
Standard Chartered Plc tumbled 7.7% after the lender warned it would take longer to hit a key profitability target due to the Covid-19 pandemic.—Reuters
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