UK’s FTSE 100 slips as luxury, bank stocks weigh

By Khushi Singh

(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 <.FTNMX402040> 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 <.FTNMX303020> 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)