LONDON: UK’s main stock index ended lower on Monday, weakened by a sell-off in aerospace-defence and personal-goods shares, while real estate shares surged on a bid for property portal Rightmove, capping losses.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell by 0.2%, after hitting a three-month high Friday and logging its third straight weekly rise.
Aerospace and defence index tumbled 4.1%, its biggest one-day fall in nearly a year and half, weighed by a 6.5% drop in aerospace engineer Rolls-Royce.
Europe’s aerospace and defence index was also down 2.4%, marking its biggest drop in a month.
The personal goods index slipped 1.9% after Bofa Global Research slashed its price target on sectoral giants. Luxury retailer Burberry fell 0.7% while watch retailer Watches of Switzerland Group lost 4.8% following the cut.
By contrast, real estate advanced 2.6% as the top sectoral performer owing to a 27.4% jump in shares of Britain’s largest property portal Rightmove.
Rightmove touched its highest level since March 2022 as REA Group said it was considering an offer for the portal.
British factories enjoyed their strongest month in more than two years in August as demand at home offset a fall in exports.
The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates on hold this month before cutting them in November for only the second time since 2020.
A PMI for the dominant services sector is due on Wednesday, while producer prices and retail sales are some of the key data on investors’ Europe watch list.
US employment data, including the payrolls report for August, could help determine the size of an all-but-certain September interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 slipped 0.5, led by a 14.3% fall in Kainos Group after the IT services provider forecast annual revenue to dip below market estimates.
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