Property developers and homebuilders, including Land Securities Group and Persimmon, paced losses on the top-flight index as yields on the benchmark 10-year Gilt climbed to within a whisker of their 52-week highs.
In the background meanwhile, Sterling was edging lower by 0.21% to 1.1811, as investors waited on the start of the central banking symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming (U.S.A.), the next day.
Ahead of the gathering, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda was telling clients: “It’s interesting that the fear of what could be said is seemingly having a far greater impact on sentiment and the markets than what has actually been communicated in recent weeks.
“Investors have repeatedly turned a blind eye to Fed commentary since the last meeting which has enabled stock markets to recover a lot of lost ground.”
Going the other way, shares of Aveva jumped after Schneider Electric confirmed that it was mulling a bid for the 41% of the IT consultancy which it did not already own.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,476.10 -0.16%
FTSE 100 – Risers
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,744.00p 25.18%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,740.00p 3.59%
Bunzl (BNZL) 3,149.00p 3.14%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 141.95p 2.38%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 10,820.00p 2.17%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 3,488.00p 2.05%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 824.80p 1.90%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,059.00p 1.68%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 430.80p 1.65%
Croda International (CRDA) 7,034.00p 1.65%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Land Securities Group (LAND) 665.00p -2.64%
Tesco (TSCO) 259.20p -2.52%
British Land Company (BLND) 435.80p -2.48%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,545.50p -2.34%
Centrica (CNA) 82.38p -2.32%
Prudential (PRU) 932.00p -2.29%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,125.50p -2.16%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 110.70p -2.12%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 388.40p -2.09%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,941.00p -2.06%
