Second day of rail strikes send Trainline tumbling as FTSE 100 dips

A second day of railway worker strikes sent shares in ticket booking platform Trainline tumbling as London’s top indexes dipped today.

The capital’s premier FTSE 100 index dropped 0.97 per cent to 7,020.45 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, fell 1.05 per cent to close below the 19,000 mark.

Railway workers part of the RMT union staged a second-day of nationwide walkouts yesterday in a bid to up the pressure on employers to sign off a higher pay rise.

They have reportedly been offered a three per cent rise, which would trail inflation, currently running at a 40-year high of 9.1 per cent.

The disruption caused by the strikes has resulted in commuters shunning public transport, pushing FTSE 250-lifted Trainline’s shares down nearly 11 per cent.

Commodity giants continued their fall of recent days as investors fret over a reduction in demand for oil, gas and raw materials triggered by some of the world’s biggest economies being dragged into a recession by high inflation and central banks hiking interest rates.

Miners Antofagasta, Fresnillo and Anglo American all shed more than four per cent. 

Yields on UK government debt dipped in a sign investors think the Bank of England will hold off on raising rates 50 basis points at its next meeting on 4 August to avoid sending the UK economy into reverse.

Returns on 10-year gilts dropped 0.016 points to 2.3 per cent. Yields and prices move in opposite directions.