FTSE 100 Declines as Financial Stocks Weigh Down Market Ahead of Data Week

Market Overview and Key Influences

(Reuters) -London stocks closed lower on Monday, with financials leading the decline as investors braced for a data-heavy week, while modest gains in healthcare and utilities stocks provided limited support to the market.

Impact of Financial Stocks

The blue-chip FTSE 100 ended 0.2% down, its third consecutive session of losses, while the mid-cap index FTSE 250 fell 0.6%, marking its fourth straight day of decline.

Upcoming Economic Reports

The heavyweight banking sector fell 0.8%, with Barclays, HSBC, and Standard Chartered falling between 0.7% and 1%.

Sector Performances

Construction & Materials fell 1.4% after a survey by property website Rightmove showed average UK home prices dropped 1.8% in the four weeks to November 8 - the largest decline for this time of year since 2012.

Additionally, finance minister Rachel Reeves is set to introduce a levy on high-value homes in her annual budget on November 26, according to the Telegraph.

The main indexes fell sharply on Friday after reports of Reeves reversing a planned tax hike drove gilt yields higher.

Market attention now shifts to this week's UK inflation report, as the budget announcement approaches and the Bank of England contemplates its interest rate decision ahead of the Dec. 18 monetary policy meeting.

Global investors will focus on U.S. jobs data and Nvidia's earnings this week as concerns grow over tech valuations and bubble fears. London markets have largely avoided the recent tech selloff over these worries due to their limited exposure to technology stocks.

On Monday, advertising group WPP climbed 11%, marking its best single-day performance in five years, after the Times reported that the firm has drawn takeover interest from French rival Havas and private equity firms Apollo and KKR.

The pharma sector gained 0.5%, while utilities, often traded as bond proxies, rose 0.4% as the yield on UK government's 10-year gilts eased, which helped ease some pressure.

Among other stocks, HICL Infrastructure plunged 6.6% after announcing a 3.98 billion pounds ($5.2 billion) merger deal with The Renewables Infrastructure.

Water solutions manufacturer Genuit slumped 13.8% after forecasting full-year profit below estimates.

($1 = 0.7596 pounds)  

(Reporting by Utkarsh Tushar Hathi; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Varun H K)