The FTSE 100 lost ground again on Thursday as consumer confidence in the UK fell to a new low, according to a survey. London’s blue-chip index fell 50 points to finish the day at 8,663, a 0.6% fall. Polling by the British Retail Consortium found expectations for the economy worsened for the fifth consecutive month in February.
The index of confidence, the number used to measure where consumer sentiment is, fell to minus 37, its worst ever score. Meanwhile, the deadlines for buying shares in several major firms in time to receive a shareholder dividend also passed, pushing their shares down and hampering the FTSE as a whole.
BP and AstraZeneca were among the firms whose deadlines passed – known on financial markets as trading ex-dividend. The companies, which are among the biggest on the stock market, saw shares fall 2.3% and 1.9% respectively. Sterling was up 0.5% against the dollar at 1.2641, while it was 0.04% behind the euro at 1.2070.
In Europe, France’s Cac 40 rose 0.2%, and in Frankfurt the Dax fell 0.4%. Stateside, the S&P 500 was 0.8% in the red while the Dow Jones had fallen 1.4% as UK markets were closing. In company news, Lloyds revealed it has set aside £1.2 billion to cover potential compensation costs for motor finance commission arrangements, as the bank’s annual profit slid by a fifth.
An additional £700 million provision taken in the final three months of the year adds to the £450 million already confirmed last year. The banking group is exposed to the market through its brand Black Horse, which is one of the biggest car finance providers in the UK.
Nonetheless, Lloyds’ stock rose 4.6% after it committed to a £1.7 billion share buyback programme to return excess cash to investors. The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Centrica, up 7.65p to 143.55p, Lloyds, up 3.06p to 65.9p, Endeavour Mining, up 64p to 1805p, Anglo American, up 59p to 2429p, and Fresnillo, up 16.5p to 787p.
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