FTSE flat as Hong Kong protests hits Asia-exposed firms – London Report
Britain’s top share index ended flat yesterday as unrest in Hong Kong kept a lid on Asia-exposed stocks and concern over demand for metals hit miners.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed down 2.79 points – flat in percentage terms – at 6,646.60 points. The index, which dropped 2.8 per cent last week, is down 1.5 per cent so far this year.
The UK mining index shed 0.8 per cent on fears over the outlook for demand from China, which consumes as much as 40 percent of global refined copper, after data showed industrial profits fell 0.6 percent, reversing July’s 13.5 percent rise.
Worries over the situation in Hong Kong also impacted the market. Democracy protesters defied volleys of tear gas in the centre of the global financial hub, in one of the biggest challenges Beijing has faced since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Banks active in Asia such as HSBC and Standard Chartered fell 2.3 percent and 1.6 per cent while miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, which have big Asian operations, were down 1.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively.