It was a quiet start to the week for the UK markets, with economic data limited to CBI Industrial Trend Orders for April.
In April, the CBI Industrial Trends Orders fell from 26 to 14. Economists forecast a decline to 21.
The numbers added further selling pressure on both the FTSE100 and the Pound, with risk aversion driving demand for the dollar at the expense of riskier assets.
Growth concerns hit the markets at the start of the week to weigh on commodity and bank stocks. The Pound also bore the brunt of dollar demand this morning.
Market Impact
At the time of writing, the FTSE100 was down 2.17% to 7,358.28. Bank and mining stocks were among the biggest losers.
Anglo American and Glencore slumped by 6.50% and 6.45%, respectively, with Rio Tinto (-4.59%) and Antofagasta (-2.09%) also struggling.
Oil stocks weren’t doing much better, with BP and Shell seeing early losses of 5.01% and 3.72%, respectively.
Bank stocks also struggled, with Barclays (-1.86%), HSBC (-2.99%), and Standard Chartered (-2.48%) in the red.
Risk aversion drove demand for the dollar to leave the Pound at sub-$1.28 levels.
At the time of writing, the Pound was down 0.83% to $1.27457. Early in the session, the Pound hit a morning high of $1.28431 before falling to a low of $1.27225. The Pound last visited $1.27 levels against the dollar in September 2020.
