FTSE 100 falls for second day as Standard Life, Travis Perkins slide

Stocks in London mainly moved lower Tuesday, with building materials group Travis Perkins PLC and insurer Standard Life PLC leading decliners after they reported earnings.

The FTSE 100 index UKX, +0.30% lost 0.6% to 6,651.84, setting it on track for a second straight day of losses. The benchmark on Monday broke a four-session winning streak as miners posted losses after Chinese manufacturing data indicated weakness in the sector.

Travis Perkins TPK, -2.70% led the list of fallers on Tuesday, down 3.4%, with investors shrugging off its latest earnings report, which showed an uptick in first-half pretax profit and a 20% rise in dividend.

Standard Life SL., -2.90% fell 2.8% after the insurer and asset manager said revenue declined in the first half of the year due to market volatility.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC RBS, +0.59% RBS, -1.59% shaved off 0.9% after the government sold a 5.4% stake in the part state-owned bank, kicking off a long-awaited privatization of the lender.

On a more upbeat note in London, shares of Meggitt PLC MGGT, +5.49% climbed 4.9% after the engineering company backed its full-year guidance and reported a rise in first-half earnings.

Direct Line Insurance Group PLC DLG, +1.97% added 1.5% after reporting a jump in profit, boosted by a reduction in claims.

At 9:30 a.m. London time, attention shifts to the U.K. construction purchasing managers’ index for July, forecast to show that the sector continued to expand at a rapid pace last month.

Source: MarkeWatch