FTSE 100 close: Persimmon and Standard Chartered peg losses on London index

London’s FTSE 100 skidded lower today despite a decent batch of results pumping up banks and house builders.

The capital’s premier index lost 0.49 per cent to close at 7,852.63 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, edged 0.04 per cent lower to 19,207.97 points.

Share price drops among Britain’s largest companies weren’t offset by a string of decent financial out this morning boosting London’s biggest listed lenders and constructors.

Persimmon, one of the UK’s largest home providers, jumped to the top of the FTSE 100, adding nearly five per cent.

The share price bump came off the back of the firm saying it has built fewer homes in the first three months of this year due to a slump in demand caused by the Bank of England hiking interest rates eleven times in a row.

Banks also led gains in the City after Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered today said it posted its best profits in nearly a decade. 

It climbed 2.8 per cent, but signs that the UK banking sector held up pretty well amid last month’s financial market turmoil that laid waste to Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank lifted sentiment toward the sector.

Barclays and NatWest both closed near the top of the FTSE 100.

Industrial giants also recouped some of their sharp losses in recent days, with miners Glencore and Antofagasta advanced over 1.5 per cent apiece.

Oil mega caps BP and Shell – which as a pair represent a large chunk of the FTSE 100 – both clocked in decent advances during opening trading, before running out of steam.

Dragging the premier into the red was Primark owner Associated British Food sliding a little under two per cent, adding to yesterday’s losses after it posted soft results that warned inflation was eating into its profits. 

Pharma giant GSK’s shares clocked steep losses, stumbling 3.87 per cent after it posted results that showed the revenue bump it’s received from Covid-19 vaccines is receding.

Wall Street’s top indexes the tech-heavy Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones also nursed heavy losses last night due to investors fretting over the state of the US economy.

The pound strengthened about 0.6 per cent against the US dollar.

Oil prices were prettu muted.