Britain's top share index fell on Monday as heavyweight Reckitt Benckiser dropped following its results and as airlines were hit by price war worries. Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended down 1 percent at 7,377.7 points. Consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser fell 3.3 percent, the biggest FTSE loser, after second-quarter sales fell 2 percent following last month's cyber attack, which disrupted its operations.
"We consider the quality of these results disappointing for a company like RB, and expect the stock to underperform today particularly given management's commentary around 2017 outlook," analysts at UBS said in a note. Airlines also saw losses, with budget carrier easyJet down 2.8 percent and British Airway's operator IAG falling 0.8 percent after Irish peer Ryanair warned rivals that it may cut its late summer fares by as much as 9 percent compared with last year.
Blue chip risers were dominated by more defensive stocks, with pharma firm Shire making modest gains. Outside of the blue chips, M&A was in focus on the mid-cap index after B&M European Value Retail jumped 4.8 percent on the back of a media report that Wal-Mart's Asda is considering a 4.4 billion pound ($5.7 billion) bid to take over the discount retailer. The British mid cap index fell 0.7 percent, led lower by a 20 percent slump in Acacia Mining's shares following a spate of broker cuts in light of the gold miner's continuing troubles stemming from Tanzania's export ban.