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* FTSE 100 down 0.3%, FTSE 250 up 0.03%
April 20 (Reuters) – London’s FTSE 100 fell on Tuesday, dragged down by stocks of heavyweight banking and cigarette makers, while Associated British Foods slipped after a downbeat first-half earnings update.
The blue-chip index slipped 0.3%, with tobacco firms British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands declining 6% and 3.4% to the bottom of index after a media report said the U.S. is considering a rule to cut nicotine in all cigarettes sold in the United States to levels at which they are no longer addictive.
The Primark-owner’s shares fell 3% after it posted a 50% drop in first-half profit, hurt by COVID-19 lockdowns that shuttered its Primark fashion stores..
The domestically focussed mid-cap FTSE 250 index inched 0.03% higher. Chemical company Elementis Plc surged 16.6% after a media report it has got a fresh takeover bid from U.S.-based Innospec Inc that values it at over 1 billion pounds ($1.40 billion). ($1 = 0.7143 pounds) (Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
