(Reuters) – London’s FTSE 100 fell on Monday, dragged lower by heavyweight banking and mining stocks, while shares of shopping centre operator Hammerson gained on plans to shore up its finances.
The blue-chip index slipped 0.2% after recording its best weekly performance since early-January on Friday.
The wider banks’ index slid 0.8%, with HSBC Holdings being the biggest loser.
Miners Anglo American, BHP Group, and Glencore tumbled more than 1% each, tracking lower metal prices.
The domestically focussed mid-cap FTSE 250 index edged 0.1% lower, with airline easyJet falling 2.5% after HSBC downgraded the stock to “hold” from “buy”.
Hammerson gained 1.4% after the company confirmed that it was in talks for a possible sale of its retail parks portfolio to Canadian private equity player Brookfield Asset Management.
C4X Discovery jumped 16.3% after the drug developer signed an exclusive licensing deal worth up to $492.12 million with French drugmaker Sanofi to develop an oral therapy for treatment of inflammatory diseases.
Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V
