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FTSE 100 falls as yuan devaluation hits miners and Burberry | FTSE 100 falls as yuan devaluation hits miners and Burberry |
(about 5 hours later) | |
(Close): The UK market fell 1.1% on Tuesday, led downwards by mining firms and fashion house Burberry following China's devaluation of the yuan. | |
Positive news on a technical agreement in Greece's bailout deal failed to make an impression. | |
The FTSE 100 index dropped 71.68 points to 6,664.54. | |
Four of the top five fallers on the FTSE 100 were mining companies for which China is a key market. | |
Glencore was the biggest casualty, falling 7.3%. BHP Billiton fell 5% . | |
The surprise devaluation will make imports into China more expensive, hitting retail companies such as Burberry. | |
Burberry, which has some 14% of its sales in China, saw its shares fall 4.4%. | |
On the upside, Prudential reversed an early fall to climb 4.7% after releasing a 17% rise in first-half operating profit. | |
And the gold price rose almost 2% as investors looked for safe haven investments away from volatile currencies and equities. | |
Miners of precious metals saw their shares rise. Randgold Resources and Fresnillo were both some 0.5% higher. | |
Base metal miners were also the biggest losers in the midcap FTSE 250. Vedanta fell 7.6%. Kaz Minerals was down 6.75%. | |
Shares in Serco reversed earlier gains to end down 1.2%, after the outsourcing group said revenues in the first six months of the year fell to £1.8bn from £2bn a year earlier. | |
Serco is attempting to revive its fortunes following problems with a number of failed contracts, including a scandal over tagging criminals. | Serco is attempting to revive its fortunes following problems with a number of failed contracts, including a scandal over tagging criminals. |
Shares in Just Retirement Group rose in early trading but then fell back to stand 5.5% lower after the company announced it had agreed to buy rival Partnership Assurance for £669m. | |
On the currency markets, the pound fell 0.2% against the dollar to $1.5560, and was down 0.2% against the euro at €1.4130. |