London’s FTSE 100 index fell on Tuesday, hurt by declines in the mining sector after Glencore’s dour first-half showing and bleak China trade data, while midcap stocks rose on upbeat earnings.
The FTSE 100 index was down 0.3% by 0820 GMT, with Glencore dropping 4.3% as it said its earnings had halved in the first half.
The industrial metals and mining sector declined 2.7%, hitting its lowest level in nearly a month after data earlier in the day showed that top consumer China’s imports and exports fell much faster than expected in July amid weaker demand.
“The China story is weighing on miners and raw resource firms generally,” said Stuart Cole, chief macro economist at Equiti Capital.
“The much hoped for Chinese recovery has not happened and this removes a large source of demand for raw materials.”
Asset manager abrdn slipped 8.8% to the bottom of the FTSE 100 after it reported a drop in its assets under management.
Bank stocks shed 0.5% as global sentiment on banking soured after Moody’s cut credit ratings of several small-to-mid-sized US banks on Monday and said it might downgrade some of the nation’s biggest lenders.
“The downgrades of these handful of banks has been enough to stoke fears again that the US banking crisis has not, in fact, gone away,” Equiti’s Cole said.
The midcap FTSE 250 index inched up 0.1%, with TI Fluid Systems surging 16.6% to the top of the index as the automotive fluid storage maker announced a buyback plan and improved dividend policy.
Shares of the company were on track for their biggest one-day percentage gain on record, while the broader auto sector index jumped 2.8%.
Fund manager Quilter’s shares jumped 10.9% after posting higher first-half revenue.
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