The FTSE 100 made modest declines in early trading on Thursday in what is likely be a quiet-ish day with markets across the pond closing for the Thanksgiving holiday.
At 9am, the benchmark FTSE 100 had slipped around 0.2% to was 6,376.64, led by falls for banks, construction and oil stocks, with tobacco firm Imperial Brands (IMB), Lloyds (LLOY) and house builder Persimmon (PSN) topping the FTSE loser board.
Going the other way, distribution business DCC (DCC) and bookie Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) headed the lead blue-chip risers with 3% to 4% gains.
FTSE risers and fallers at 9am
Mid-caps were also on the back foot, the FTSE 250 falling 0.4% to 19,481.75, as Virgin Money continued to see heavy selling after yesterday’s £501 million bad debt write-down.
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Overnight, it appeared that investors and Wall Street traders were cashing out after the recent coronavirus vaccine positivity, ahead of the public holiday.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrials Average finished Wednesday down 173 points or 0.6% at 29,872. The broader S&P 500 closed at 3,629, down 0.16%, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed nearly 0.5% up at an all-time 12,094 high.
In Asia on Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed up 240 points, or 0.9%, trading at 26,537, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng moved 0.2% ahead to 26,731.
The Shanghai Composite was down a sliver at 3,360.
The pound nudged up against the dollar at $1.3393, gold rose 0.2%
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