- FTSE 100 down 1.5%, FTSE 250 off 0.6%
- LSEG, Mondi down on H1 profit fall
- Unilever, BT Group fall as shares trade ex-div
- BoE rate hike verdict due 1100 GMT
Aug 3 (Reuters) - UK's FTSE 100 fell over 1% for the second straight session on Thursday, as downbeat earnings and ex-dividend trades weighed, while investors awaited the Bank of England's verdict on monetary policy tightening later in the day.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 1.5%, hovering near a two-week low hit on Wednesday, while the more domestically-focussed FTSE 250 midcap index lost 0.6%.
London Stock Exchange Group lost 3.1% after the exchange's first-half profit before tax fell 17.6%.
Mondi slumped 3.9% after the paper and packaging firm reported a 28% drop in half-yearly underlying core profit.
The BoE is expected to raise interest rates to a 15-year high of 5.25% from 5%, though there is a risk of a repeat of June's surprise half-point increase as inflation remains the highest of the world's major economies.
"For the first time in a long time, we're unsure what to expect at this next meeting," said Joseph Calnan, corporate FX dealing manager at Moneycorp.
"We could see a 50 bps hike, a 25 bps hike, or even no change at all given CPI finally eased off in June after a stubborn 11 months."
Investors are also eyeing July services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data due later in the day.
Further weighing on the FTSE 100 were telecom firm BT Group and consumer staples major Unilever, which fell 5.5% and 1.8%, respectively, as their shares traded ex-dividend.
A majority of the FTSE 350 indexes were trading lower, with the pharmaceuticals and biotech index down close to 2% and leading declines.
Wizz Air lost 5.8% after the budget carrier warned of a slower capacity growth rate.
Rolls-Royce Holdings fell 1.7% after the Aero-engineer's CEO said the early stages of his transformation programme were delivering strong improvements but it would not keep delivering at that rate.
Bucking the trend, Helios Towers jumped 6.9% after the communications infrastructure firm tightened its full-year 2023 guidance to the upper end of its forecast range.
Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K
Source: Reuters