U.K. stocks declined, with the FTSE 100 (UKX) Index heading for its first two-week drop since November, as the equity benchmark trimmed the longest streak of monthly gains since its inception.
Imagination Technologies Group Plc (IMG) dropped 2.1 percent as Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch unit recommended that investors sell the shares.
The FTSE 100 lost 50.35 points, or 0.8 percent, to 6,606.64 at 8:51 a.m. in London. The gauge is still headed for a 2.8 percent advance in May, its 12th consecutive month of gains. The broader FTSE All-Share Index declined 0.7 percent today, while Ireland's ISEQ Index slipped 0.5 percent.
The number of shares changing hands on FTSE 100-listed companies was 24 percent greater than the average of the past 30 days, data compiled by Bloomberg shows.
A report at 9:55 a.m. New York time will probably show that U.S. consumer sentiment climbed in May to the highest level since July 2007. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer confidence climbed to 83.7 from 76.4 in April, according to the median economist forecast.
A separate release at 9:45 a.m. may show business activity in the U.S. stagnated this month. The MNI Chicago Report's business barometer rose to 50 in May, from 49 in April, economists forecast in a Bloomberg survey. A reading of 50 is the dividing line between expansion and contraction.
The U.K. economy will grow faster than previously forecast through to 2015, the British Chambers of Commerce said today. Gross domestic product will rise 0.9 percent this year, 1.9 percent next year and 2.4 percent in 2015, compared with previous forecasts of 0.6 percent, 1.7 percent and 2.2 percent, the London-based lobby group said.
A U.K. consumer-sentiment index published by GfK NOP Ltd. climbed 5 points to minus 22, matching the reading in November, which was the strongest in 18 months.
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