LONDON: UK stocks opened lower, FTSE 100 index slipped 7 points, 0.1 percent on Tuesday trade
The UK blue chip index closed down by 0.2 percent at 6,837.15 points on Monday.
British retail spending accelerated last month as shoppers splashed out more than usual in the January sales, while food sales rose for the second month in a row, an industry survey showed on Tuesday.
Australia has picked Britain’s BAE Systems to carry out heavy maintenance of Lockheed Martin Corp’s LMT.N F-35 fighter jet in Australia from 2018 and Tasman Aviation Enterprises (TAE) to service its engines, its defence minister said on Tuesday.
Tesco rebuffed an approach from billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont in December to buy the British retailer’s Thai unit, but undeterred, the tycoon is building financial firepower for another attempt, people familiar with the matter said.
A panel of British lawmakers said on Monday they planned to open an inquiry into HSBC Holdings, after media reports that the bank helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets.
The chief executive of DBS Group Holdings , Piyush Gupta, said on Tuesday he has not been approached by anyone to take the top job at Standard Chartered and he is not interested.
Barclays Plc is planning to raise pay for junior investment bankers as the British bank seeks to retain talent, Bloomberg News reported, citing two persons familiar with the matter.
Brent fell below $58 a barrel on Tuesday after China’s consumer inflation came in at a five-year low for January, raising worries about oil demand in the world’s second-largest economy.
