LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Falls For Third Day As Oil Majors Drag
March 23 2017 - 05:25AM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
Investors are still digested Wednesday's attack in London
U.K. stocks moved slightly lower on Thursday, driven by losses
in energy shares on worries over continued oversupply in the oil
market.
Investors were also still digesting the attack in London on
Wednesday afternoon, which left at least four people dead and
dozens injured. Police is treating the incident as a terrorist
attack.
The FTSE 100 index was down 0.1% to 7,316.71, on track for a
third straight day of losses.
The weakness was driven mainly by losses among the
heavily-weighted oil giants, following news on Wednesday that U.S.
oil supplies have risen to a fresh record. Oil prices closed lower
on Wednesday, but rebounded slightly in Thursday's trade.
Shares of BP PLC (BP.LN) (BP.LN) lost 0.5% and Royal Dutch Shell
PLC (RDSB.LN) (RDSB.LN) fell 0.3%.
In other movers, shares of Kingfisher PLC (KGF.LN) dropped 1.9%,
building on a 5.1% slide from Wednesday when the home-improvement
retailer flagged concerns about the uncertainty for the U.K.
economy in the wake of the Brexit vote
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kingfisher-profit-rises-chairman-to-retire-2017-03-22).
Next PLC (NXT.LN) jumped 5.9% after the fashion retailer
maintained its final dividend at GBP1.05 and confirmed its guidance
for the current year
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fashion-retailer-next-posts-drop-in-profit-2017-03-23).
Sterling: The pound traded at $1.2491, up slightly from $1.2484
late Wednesday in New York.
"Yesterday's presumed terrorist attack in London initiated some
weakness for sterling crosses, but this proved short lived and
we're seeing further gains for the pound as the European session
gets underway," said Tony Cross, market analyst for TopTradr, in a
note.
An assailant on Wednesday afternoon mowed down pedestrians on
Westminster Bridge, before breaking through barriers and into
parameters of the Houses of Parliament. A police officer was
stabbed and later died of his injuries. Two members of the public
and the attacker have also been confirmed dead.
Read:U.K. police arrest 7 in London terror-attack probe: report
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-police-make-arrests-linked-to-westminster-attack-report-2017-03-23)
At 9:30 a.m. London time, attention turns to U.K. retail sales
data for February.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2017 05:10 ET (09:10 GMT)
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