Britain’s top share index slipped to a one-month low yesterday as global equities suffered from nerves over the upcoming US presidential election and Standard Chartered was hit by broker downgrades.
Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index, down for a third straight session, closed one per cent weaker after slipping to its lowest level since late September.
It declined along with European, Asian and US stock markets as polls showed the race for the White House was tightening.
Republican Donald Trump closed the gap on Democrat Hillary Clinton over the last week, according to some polls, spooking markets and prompting some to rethink bets on a Clinton victory.
“Anxious investors the world over are pricing in an even tighter US election race,” said Mike van Dulken, analyst at Accendo Markets.
“The probability of a Clinton win may remain high but a blindside Brexit result is also still very fresh in the memory of market participants.”
The top individual faller was Standard Chartered, which dropped again after Tuesday’s worse-than-expected results.
It fell 4.3 per cent yesterday after suffering broker downgrades from Deutsche Bank and Natixis, with total losses rising to nearly 10 per cent in two sessions.
“Revenue stability is not enough. The current share price implies even greater revenue growth,” analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a note.
However, drugmakers outperformed the broader market, with analysts saying that a Trump win could lessen the risk of a more severe drug-pricing regime in the United States. GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca were up around 0.3 per cent.
Precious metals miner Fresnillo surged 3.6 per cent, the top gainer in the FTSE 100 index, after prices of safe-haven gold rallied to a one-month high on uncertainty over the outcome of the US election.