- JD Sports tumbles more than 14% after cutting profit outlook on weak North American sales
- British 30-year bond yield edges up near 5.82% after falling as low as 5.76%
- Brent crude rises more than 2% above $94, lifting BP and Shell shares
Aug 20 (Reuters) - The UK's FTSE 100 slipped on Thursday, as JD Sports plunged after issuing a downbeat forecast, while a rebound in government bond yields put pressure on stocks.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index dipped 0.3% to 10,714.80 points by 1137 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 fell 0.3% to 24,570.21 points.
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British sportswear and fashion retailer JD Sports tumbled more than 14%, becoming the biggest decliner in the FTSE 100, after it cut its profit outlook following a slump in second-quarter sales in its key North American market.
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The downbeat outlook confirms that the promotional and product cycle pressures the management has flagged for months are not easing, said Adam Vettese, market analyst for eToro.
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"At these levels the shares look cheap on any conventional metric, but cheapness alone will not restore confidence until trading trends stabilise."
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Shares of insurer Legal & General and wealth manager Investec fell 3.7% and 4.4%, respectively, as they traded without entitlement to a dividend payout.
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The yield on British 30-year bonds edged up to nearly 5.82% after having fallen to as low as 5.76% on Wednesday following a surprise U.S. Treasury buyback announcement, as worries about inflation and ballooning government debt kept markets nervous.
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Oil prices climbed to three-week highs, driven by concerns that the impasse in the Iran war will continue to disrupt supply from the key Middle Eastern producing region.
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U.S. President Donald Trump warned of economic consequences against any country that provided "any type of lifeline to Iran".
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Brent crude rose more than 2% to $94, helping lift shares of British energy majors BP and Shell.
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Among other movers, rail ticketing company Trainline fell 10%, extending its prior day's losses, following the competition regulator's probe into ticket pricing.
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Ashtead Technology fell 14.9% after the subsea equipment rental and solutions firm forecast annual results below market expectations due to project delays across multiple regions.
Reporting by Anand Gopal and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Vijay Kishore
Source: Reuters