FTSE 100 turns lower
U.K. stocks tipped into the red on Wednesday, backing away from an effort to reach a record high, with a downgrade of Barclays PLC weighing on the banking heavyweight’s shares.
The FTSE 100 UKX, -0.41% fell 0.4% to 6,990.97. The lowest close for the blue-chip index since March 19, according to FactSet data, came in part as consumer-related shares reversed gains. ARM Holdings PLC ARM, -6.08% paced individual decliners as the chip designer’s shares fell 6.1%, mirroring losses in tech stocks on Wall Street.
Brewer SABMiller PLC SAB, -0.55% fell 0.6%. They had been down by nearly 2% ahead of a formal announcement that H.J. Heinz Co. and Kraft Foods Group Inc. KRFT, +34.55% have agreed to merge. The Wall Street Journal noted that there had been speculation Brazil’s 3G Capital was interested in bidding for SABMiller along with Anheuser Busch InvBev ABI, -0.84% in which 3G holds a stake.
Under the planned Kraft-Heinz merger, 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B, -0.26% will contribute $10 billion toward a special shareholder dividend as part of the transaction that would create the world’s fifth largest food and beverage company.
Shares of Barclays PLC BARC, -2.53% also weighed on the FTSE 100, falling 2.5% following a downgrade to hold from buy at Investec. The “valuation case is no longer overwhelming in the context of our deteriorating expectations for the scale and pace of [return on equity] recovery,” wrote analyst Ian Gordon in a note.
But TUI AG shares TUI, +2.62% held the top spot on the FTSE 100, jumping 2.6% as the tourism company said its winter 2014/15 season wrapped up as it had expected, with higher average-selling prices in most of its markets. It said for this summer, bookings and average-selling prices are each up 1%. The demand for its own holiday packages account for 74% of summer bookings, higher by three percentage points from the year-ago period.
The FTSE 100 on Tuesday had been on track to surpasses its previous record closing high of 7,037.67, but reversed course toward the end of the session and lost 0.3%.
Source: MarketWatch
