UK’s FTSE 100 ended higher on Monday as gains in energy firms outpaced losses in mining stocks after weak Chinese economic data renewed slowing demand concerns.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 gained 0.2%, while the more domestically focussed FTSE 250 midcap index added 0.1%.
Oil major Shell rose 1.0% after Deutsche Bank raised its price target on the stock, while the broader oil and gas sector added 0.7%.
Industrial metal miners lost 0.7%, tracking a fall in most base metal prices.
Top metals consumer China said producer prices fell at their fastest pace in over seven years in June, while consumer prices teetered on the edge of deflation.
“The continued loss of power in the Chinese economy is concerning investors,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
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China-exposed stocks like insurer Prudential fell 0.4%, while lenders Standard Chartered and HSBC Holdings lost 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively.
Debt-ridden water company Thames Water said its investors agreed to pump 750 million pounds ($960 million) into the firm, lifting water utility firms United Utilities Group and Severn Trent up 1% and 1.5% respectively.
A bearish note from HSBC on the UK real estate weighed on the sector, pushing the real estate investment trusts (REITs) and real estate sector down nearly 0.5% each.
Travel stocks led gains, up 1.6% following last week’s 3% fall.
Telecoms firm BT Group fell 0.2% as the company began its hunt for a new chief executive after incumbent Philip Jansen said he planned to step down.
The FTSE 100 is down 2.3% for the year, versus a 5.6% gain in the pan-European STOXX 600 index. Citigroup downgraded UK stocks to ‘neutral’ and upgraded European shares, on a lack of exposure to growth stocks and a stronger pound.
Meanwhile, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey reiterated the central bank’s commitment to “see the job through” and get inflation back to target.
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