LONDON: Britain’s top share index fell, led lower by specialty chemicals maker Johnson Matthey after results, amid a broad sell-off in equities as bond yields ticked higher.
Johnson Matthey, the world’s largest maker of auto catalysts, fell 3.4 percent, among the top FTSE 100 fallers.
The company posted a small rise in annual profit helped by higher sales of catalysts in Europe.
But some analysts are concerned about its debt levels while others said they were trimming their forecasts in view of the fact that the company is disposing of its research chemicals unit and booking higher pension service charges, while its metals unit has been weak.
Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 90.77 points, or 1.3 percent, at 6,859.69 by 08h13 GMT, and is now 3.8 percent off of an all-time high hit in late April.
Many of the top fallers were “ex-dividend”, with National Grid, WPP and AB Foods trading without entitlement to their latest dividend payout, trimming 5.69 points off the index.
Utilities were also under pressure from a sell-off in bonds, which reduces the relative appeal of high-yielding stocks and raises debt costs for indebted companies.
