LONDON: U.K. stocks on Monday finished lower for a third session in a row after early gains evaporated.
The FTSE 100 UKX, -0.92% fell 0.9% to end at 6,295.16 The index on Friday fell 0.2% and closed last week lower by 0.1%, marking a second consecutive weekly loss.
The benchmark “saw early session consolidation fly out the window as sentiment from Wall Street kicked in and the reality of imminent U.S. rate hikes served to rattle equity markets on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, in emailed comments.
U.S. stocks were recently trading significantly lower on Monday, with the Dow off more than 200 points and analysts blaming “the gravitational pull” of possible rate rises.
Energy names lost ground as oil prices CLZ5, +0.64% moved lower after a morning advance faded.
Major oil companies Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSB, -0.87% and BP PLC BP., -1.01% fell 0.9% and 1%,respectively, while BG Group PLC BG., -1.66% closed down 1.7%.
Shares of BHP Billiton PLC BLT, -2.32% BHP, -2.63% BHP, -0.28% finished down 2.3%. The miner said it is reviewing its full-year projections for iron-ore production after a dam burst at an operation in Brazil. Read: BHP says Samarco is responsible for dam-break mine
Near the bottom of the FTSE 100 sat InterContinental Hotel Group PLC IHG, -4.83% Shares closed down 4.8% as the Holiday Inn and Crowe Plaza chains operator issued a statement saying “it is not considering a potential sale or merger of the company.” IHG on Friday denied press reports that it is exploring its options, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Shares ended 6.2% higher on Friday.
On the plus side among FTSE stocks, bank Barclays PLC BARC, +0.71% closed up 0.7%, while Royal Bank of Scotland RBS, +0.09% finished 0.1% higher. The rises came after global financial regulators published new rules aiming to prevent banks becoming “too big to fail” that were less tough than the industry had feared.
