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* FTSE 100 down 1.1%, FTSE 250 down 0.6%
* Centrica, Barclays drag on main index
* Number of coronavirus cases in China rises
* Exporters hurt by a stronger pound
(Adds news items, analyst comments, closing prices)
By Shashwat Awasthi and Noor Zainab Hussain
Feb 13 (Reuters) - London's blue-chip index fell on Thursday
after two successive days of gains, dragged down by exporters
which were hurt by a stronger pound as investors positioned for
a higher-spending budget next month under a new British finance
minister.
The FTSE 100 ended the session 1.1% lower, derailed
by steep falls in heavyweights Barclays and Centrica
, while a rise in new coronavirus cases in China jolted
broader risk sentiment.
British utility Centrica skidded 15.3% after its 2019 profit
slumped by more than a third, while Barclays slipped 1.7% as
news Britain's financial regulators were probing historical
links between the bank's chief executive officer and U.S.
financier Jeffrey Epstein overshadowed financial results.
The mid-cap FSTE 250 lost 0.6%, tracking a broader
risk-off sentiment as the Chinese province of Hubei, an
epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, reported a record rise in
deaths and thousands of more cases.
The increase in numbers, which came after China introduced a
new diagnostic procedure involving quicker computerised
tomography (CT) scans to screen patients, dented hopes that the
outbreak would soon plateau.
After the initial outbreak roiled global markets last month,
investors have become more sensitive to the rate of escalation.
"China is the world’s largest importer of oil so the renewed
fears about the health crisis have hit stocks like BP and Royal
Dutch Shell," CMC Markets analyst David Madden said, adding that
mining stocks such as BHP, Rio Tinto and Anglo
American were hurt too.
"It has been a double whammy for the FTSE 100 as the drive
higher in sterling has dented internationally focused stocks
like GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, plus
Unilever," he said.
The midcap index was also dragged down by British gambling
firms William Hill, GVC, Playtech and
888 following a media report that the gambling
commission would consider putting limits on the amount consumers
are allowed to bet online.
All sectors of the FTSE 100 ended lower, with oil majors
Shell and BP among the major drags, followed by
financials. The index substantially underperformed the broader
European benchmark as more of its components are
exposed to commodity prices.
UAE-based NMC Health, whose shares have swung
sharply in recent sessions amid takeover chatter, tumbled 4.2%
after analysts at SocGen slapped a double rating downgrade on
the stock.
Coca Cola HBC outperformed with a 3.6% gain after
it, along with fellow bottler Coca-Cola European Partners
, reported a higher annual profit.
Small-cap drugmaker Indivior fell more than 19%
after it reported a fourth-quarter loss.
(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun
Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta and Kirsten Donovan)
