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Highlights
- Inflation pressures continue to mount on the London equities on Wednesday
- FTSE 100 crashed nearly 128 points, or 1.81% to a two-week low of 6,949.14
- AstraZeneca shares provided the most negative points to the index
Inflation pressures continue to mount on the London equities on Wednesday, 6 October, with the benchmark FTSE 100 diving deep into losses as major heavyweight components including AstraZeneca cracked more than 2%.
The market index has touched the lowest level since 20 September, wiping out all the gains of the last two weeks as investors progressed with a cautious tone given the macroeconomic developments. London’s key stock barometer crashed nearly 128 points, or 1.81% to a two-week low of 6,949.14 from the previous close of 7,077.10. Market-wide selling pressure was seen today with only eight of the 101 components hovering in green.
FTSE 100 chart (6 October 2021)
Source: EODHD/Others
The present low of 6,949 is 3.81% lower as compared to the 52-week high of 7,224.46 attained in August of 2021.
Shares of the market-cap leader on the London Stock Exchange -- AstraZeneca Plc (LON: AZN) -- provided the most negative points to the index followed by the blue-chip shares of Unilever (LON: ULVR), Diageo Plc (LON: DGE), BP Plc (LON: BP), GlaxoSmithKline Plc (LON: GSK), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LON: RDSA) and Rio Tinto Plc (LON: RIO).
As per the latest data available with the exchange, the stock of AstraZeneca tumbled as much as 2.71% to an intraday bottom of GBX 8,616 from the previous closing price of GBX 8,856.
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Shares of JD Sports Fashion Plc (LON: JD), Melrose Industries Plc (LON: MRO) and Whitbread Plc (LON: WTB) were the worst hit stocks in percentage terms with all of them falling more than 4% in the trade today.
The rise in shares of HSBC Holdings Plc (LON: HSBA) and Tesco Plc (LON: TSCO) partly helped the index to offset some of the losses. Counterbalancing the index, the stock of HSBC Holdings rose 3.61% to a fresh one-and-half-month high of GBX 407.20 from the last closing price of GBX 393 apiece.
Equity sentiments have been thoroughly battered by the ongoing macro developments with the major economic drivers including the manufacturing, construction and services faltering one after the other as businesses continue to face extended challenges of malfunctioned supply chain and logistics systems, the acute workforce crisis, increasing prices of fuel and other services.
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The government has now stepped in to control the devastating situation following which nearly 200 military personnel trucks have been deployed to equalise the shortfall of hauliers and HGV drivers transporting petrol and diesel to the refuelling stations and other goods of essential, as well as non-essential nature.
The investors have been tip-toeing the markets ahead of the commencement of corporate earnings of major corporations. The corporate results of the July-September quarter will effectively portray the resultant benefits of operating with the least possible restrictions as the government withdrew the social distancing guidelines for the first in the pandemic era.
The global market worries perpetrated by the possible collapse of China’s second-largest property developer Evergrande Group has increased the dejection. The rising crude oil prices, along with the prospective tapering by the US Federal Reserve, as well as the Bank of England in the ongoing bond buying programme have cumulatively unnerved the investors.
