FTSE 100 drops on pound's strength, Fresnillo's weakness

Britain's main index fell sharply on Tuesday after poor readings from Fresnillo, StanChart and Croda, while exporter companies were marred by sterling gaining on reports of a possible Brexit delay.

The FTSE 100 dipped 1 percent by 0906 GMT to its lowest in more than two weeks, underperforming its European peers, but a stronger sterling supported the more domestically-focussed FTSE 250.

The pound hit a three-week high on reports that British Prime Minister Theresa May would rule out a no-deal Brexit and delay the March 29 deadline for UK's exit from the European Union.

That hit stocks that book much of their earnings in dollars with HSBC and British American Tobacco  the biggest drags.

The midcaps shrugged off early losses to be up 0.1 percent, led by a 10 percent surge in Travis Perkins on better-than-expected full-year adjusted earnings.

"It's likely that the FTSE 250 has already priced in some of the expected benefits you might get from a delayed Brexit or even a no Brexit as well," said City Index analyst Ken Odeluga.

"The idea that this (the Brexit situation) is still highly uncertain should temper any gains."

British Airways owner IAG slipped 3.6 percent after reports that it would no longer be part of MSCI global standard indexes.

Earnings drove some notable moves across the board.

Precious-metals miner Fresnillo slid 8 percent to the bottom of the main index. Pretax profit for the year slumped by more than a third and it flagged an "unwelcome degree of uncertainty" from the China-U.S. trade dispute.

Standard Chartered was 1 percent lower after earlier falling as much as 3 percent as it reported 2018 results and said it would cut costs and quit smaller businesses as part of a new strategy.

Speciality chemicals maker Croda fell 3.3 percent after its annual pretax profit missed estimates and it said it was stockpiling goods ahead of Brexit.

Housebuilders gained after five sessions of losses with Persimmon rising 2 percent following results and CEO appointment.

The rise comes after the sector was hit in the last session on reports of Persimmon coming under regulatory fire for its practices under the "Help to Buy" scheme.

Building materials supplier Travis Perkins climbed to an eight month high on the midcap index as its results were well-received.

Babcock skidded 6 percent after it said restructuring its European business for Brexit would 10 million pounds ($13 million) a year.