(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)
* FTSE 100 down 0.1%, FTSE 250 flat
* Personal goods index lead sectoral declines
* Crest Nicholson cuts profit view again, shares fall
* PageGroup down on FY profit forecast cut
* UK data this week – CPI, retail sales, labour market
report
Jan 15 (Reuters) – The UK’s benchmark FTSE 100 reversed
early gains to fall on Monday, hurt by a sell-off in luxury and
bank stocks, while lacklustre corporate earnings forecasts
weighed on the FTSE 250 shares.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 rose 0.2% before paring the
paring the gains and falling 0.1%, as of 0929 GMT, while the
midcap FTSE 250 index was flat.
Personal goods index fell 2.1%, with
Burberry extending losses by declining 2.9%, after the
luxury retailer warned of a worsening slowdown in demand for
luxury goods last week.
Top performer non-life insurers gained 1.1%,
while banks fell 1.7%, heading for a five-day
losing streak.
Lender HSBC lost 2.3% after Exane downgraded the
stock, citing margin headwinds.
Investors are awaiting British consumer price inflation data
and retail sales figures for December, both of which are due
later this week, for more clarity on potential interest rate
cuts.
The Bank of England seems to be a relatively hawkish outlier
compared to the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank as
they stuck to their higher-for-longer policy rhetoric.
Across the Atlantic, investors will closely monitor the
business activity data for January and December retail sales
from the U.S.
Shares of PageGroup fell 2.5% after the global
recruiter trimmed its annual profit forecast.
“PageGroup is putting a brave face on a difficult jobs
market, but it’s clearly a real struggle as employers around the
world turn cautious amid the uncertain economic climate,”
Hargreaves Lansdown analysts said.
Crest Nicholson was among the bottom performers on
the FTSE 250 after the homebuilder cut its annual profit
forecast, taking the shares down 4.5%.
Meanwhile, the average asking prices for British homes made
the strongest start to the year since 2020, according to an
industry survey that showed the slowdown in the sector could be
easing as demand picked up in January.
The real estate index was up 0.4%.
(Reporting by Khushi Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Eileen
Soreng and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
