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* Flutter Entertainment dives on FY guidance cut
* BoE policy decision due later this week awaited
* StanChart slides after forecasting flat full-year income
* FTSE 100 down 0.2%, FTSE 250 off 0.2%
(Updates to close)
By Bansari Mayur Kamdar
Nov 2 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 index dropped on
Tuesday, with mining stocks taking a hit from a slump in iron
ore prices, while shares in online betting group Flutter
Entertainment and Asia-focussed lender Standard Chartered fell
after posting quarterly results.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index eased 0.2% after
closing at fresh February 2020 highs on Monday, while the
domestically focussed mid-cap index slipped 0.2%.
Miners BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Anglo
American were among the worst performers on the FTSE 100
as a tumbling iron ore market weighed on metal prices.
Paddy Power, Betfair and Fanduel owner Flutter Entertainment
dropped 7.4% after it cut its full-year guidance on
unfavourable sports results in October and a temporary exit from
the Netherlands.
Standard Chartered forecast flat full-year income
and dashed investor buyback hopes, and its shares fell 8.4% even
though it reported that third-quarter profit
doubled.
"Standard Chartered pointed out that its recovery is going
to be uneven and income could be flat going forward, raising
fears that some of the exuberance we've seen of a rapid
post-pandemic recovery is not going to happen," said Stuart
Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital.
Supply-chain problems and rising inflationary pressures have
led the FTSE 100 to underperform its European and U.S. peers
that are trading near record levels.
Investors are on edge ahead of the Bank of England's
interest rate decision on Thursday, with many expecting the
central bank to raise rates for the first time since the
pandemic.
"Indeed, while we think a hike is more likely to come early
next year, when there will be more clarity on the UK's labour
market and supply bottlenecks, we would not be surprised if
rates are raised this year," said analysts at BNP Paribas.
THG tumbled 9.2% as its biggest institutional
investor BlackRock Inc offloaded nearly half its stake
in the British e-commerce group at a 10% discount to current
market prices.
BP declined 3.6% even after adding more than a
billion dollars to its share buyback programme on Tuesday as it
likened itself to a "cash machine" benefitting from higher oil
and gas prices and a strong trading performance in the third
quarter.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Amal S in Bengaluru;
editing by Uttaresh.V, Subhranshu Sahu and David Gregorio)
