FTSE 100 knocked lower by declines in commodities, luxury

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By Purvi Agarwal and Roshan Abraham

(Reuters) -London’s benchmark FTSE 100 closed lower for a second straight session on Tuesday, hurt by fresh declines in Burberry shares as well as a drop in metal and oil stocks after commodities came under pressure from weaker-than-expected Chinese data.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended down 0.2%, with luxury goods maker Burberry falling 5.3% following a 16% plunge on Monday when it warned on profit, scrapped its dividend and sacked its CEO.

European luxury sector was again hammered after a caution on profit from Hugo Boss and weak China sales at Richemont.

Dampening the mood, energy and mining giants including Shell, Glencore and Rio Tinto dropped in the range of 0.9%-2.3%, after data showed China’s economy grew much slower than expected in the second quarter. [O/R] [MET/L]

“With China being a huge importer of metals in general, that has had a negative impact on mining stocks. So investors are worried about the future demand being much lower than expected from China,” said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at IG Group.

Domestic consumer prices and producer prices data will be in focus on Wednesday, as the Bank of England’s (BoE) next monetary policy decision inches closer.

Markets are pricing in about 48% odds of a 25 bps rate cut in August. While inflation is near the BoE’s 2% target, investors have been jittery due to hawkish comments from some policymakers and global political uncertainty.

Rio Tinto’s shares were also weighed down following disappointing second-quarter iron ore shipments.

Discount retailer B&M climbed 4.3% after it reported higher first-quarter revenue and 19 store openings.

The mid-cap FTSE 250 edged up 0.1%, with Ocado gaining 5.9% after the online supermarket and technology group reported a smaller first-half loss and raised its annual forecast.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Sriraj Kalluvila)