The UK’s FTSE 100 was muted on Tuesday as weak performance in oil major BP sparked a sell-off in energy shares, offset by gains in the aerospace and defence sector after a rating upgrade on Rolls Royce.

The commodity-focused FTSE 100 was flat at 08:10 a.m. GMT, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 edged 0.3% higher.

BP shares plunged 4.6% after the oil major missed third-quarter earnings estimate, hurt by a large drop in energy prices from a year earlier. The broader oil and gas index fell 2.2%.

The aerospace and defence index gained over 1%, while Rolls Royce advanced nearly 4% to the top of FTSE 100 after Barclays raised the stock to overweight from equal-weight.

FTSE 100 slips as Reckitt results offset mining boost

Meanwhile, industry data showed prices in British store chains rose at the slowest pace in more than a year in October.

As part of cost-saving measures, British online trading platform IG Group said it would lay off 10% of its workforce, taking the company’s shares higher by 2.4%.

Comments

Comments are closed.