LONDON: London’s FTSE 100 index was dragged lower by energy and mining stocks on Tuesday, while subprime lender Amigo was on track for its worst day on record after a British court rejected its proposed redress scheme.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.3% with oil heavyweights BP and Royal Dutch Shell falling 1.2% and 1.6% respectively.
Miners including Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Glencore and BHP were also among the biggest drags on the FTSE 100, with shares falling between 1.2% and 1.6%.
However, losses were limited by industrial software company Aveva, which gained 1.6% after saying it was confident about the year ahead as the business environment had improved in most of its major markets.
“The FTSE 100 was struggling for direction ... given the continuing uncertainties over vaccines versus variants, the risks of inflation and the continuing volatility in the commodity and cryptocurrency markets,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.
The domestically focussed mid-cap FTSE 250 index was flat with Royal Mail up 6.6% to the top of the index after Peel Hunt upgraded it to “buy” from “hold”.
After rising 9% in the first four months of this year on recovery optimism, the FTSE 100 has traded in a tight range in recent sessions on concerns that a resurgence of Covid-19 cases across parts of Asia might delay a global economic recovery.
Amigo’s shares tumbled 55.3% after a court refused to sanction a proposed rescue plan to manage its large backlog of redress claims.
Among other stocks, AstraZeneca fell 0.8% after Britain’s competition regulator said it was reviewing the drugmaker’s $39 billion buyout of US-based Alexion.
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