London stocks fall as earnings disappoint

FILE PHOTO: The London Stock Exchange Group offices are seen in the City of London, Britain, December 29, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

(Reuters) – UK shares fell on Wednesday, dragged by a raft of dismal earnings updates, including from Reckitt and St. James’s Place, while investors also remained cautious ahead of key inflation numbers from the U.S. and Europe this week.

Both the blue-chip FTSE 100 index slid and the mid-cap FTSE 250 index shed 0.3%, each, as of 0817 GMT.

St. James’s Place slumped 26.4% to the bottom of the FTSE 100 after the wealth manager swung to an annual loss, hit by a 426 million pound ($538.98 million) provision made for potential client refunds over historic ongoing servicing complaints.

Reckitt lost 8.4% after the consumer goods group missed fourth-quarter like-for-like net sales estimates, while Taylor Wimpey slipped 2.5% after the homebuilder said it would build fewer homes this year and posted a 49% slump in annual profit.

On the flip side, Aston Martin gained 3.3% after the luxury carmaker’s annual losses more than halved on selling prices hitting record levels.

Besides the corporate updates, investors are also awaiting the consumer prices data from the U.S. and Europe due later this week for insights into the central banks’ monetary policy path.

Later in the day, market participants will also wait for comments from Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann.

(Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)