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* West Yorkshire to be put under Tier-3 restrictions
* NatWest swings to quarterly profit, shares jump
* Vivo Energy rises on resumed dividend payout
* FTSE 100 down 0.1%, FTSE 250 up 0.2%
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By Devik Jain
Oct 30 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 fell on Friday, logging
its biggest monthly drop since a brutal sell-off in March, as a
new wave of regional COVID-19 restrictions threatened a nascent
economic recovery.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 0.1% lower in
choppy trading, dragged down by pharmaceutical,
personal goods maker and aero stocks.
The index fell 4.9% for the month.
After falling nearly 0.8% in morning trade, the domestically
focused mid-cap FTSE 250 ended 0.2% higher as the
British government resisted a new national lockdown and stuck to
its localised approach to restrictions, despite an official
survey showing new COVID-19 cases in England increased by around
51,900 each day last week.
In the latest round of restrictions, West Yorkshire, will be
placed under Britain's highest alert level Tier-3 from Monday.
"Local restrictions edged up this week... and more is still
likely. One important development to watch for is if the
government adopts even tighter restrictions (i.e. a new tier
4)," wrote Deutsche Bank economist Sanjay Raja in a note.
"Newsflow over the last week suggests that such an
announcement could be imminent."
The indexes have come under pressure this month due to
concerns over an accelerating second wave of novel coronavirus
infections and Brexit-related uncertainty.
The European Union's chief negotiator said on Friday that
the EU and Britain are working hard for a Brexit trade deal but
much remains to be done.
Investors are now looking forward to a Bank of England
meeting on Nov. 5 where the central bank will weigh the
possibility of negative interest rates and is expected to
bolster its bond-buying programme again.
Helping limit the losses on Friday, NatWest Group Plc
jumped 6% to top the gainers in the FTSE 100 index after
the lender swung to a quarterly profit as COVID-19-linked
provisions for bad loans dwindled.
BT Group Plc was up 2.3% after Barclays raised its
target price on Britain's biggest fixed-line and mobile
operator.
Vivo Energy Plc rose 5.4% after the Africa-focused
fuel retailer resumed its dividend payout on improved volume in
the third quarter.
(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni
and Ken Ferris)
