* FTSE 100 down 0.6%, FTSE 250 down 0.2%
* Baker Greggs jumps after forecast upgrade
* Stocks vulnerable to Asia sink on Hong Kong tensions
(Adds company news items, analyst comment, updates share moves)
By Muvija M and Shashwat Awasthi
Nov 11 (Reuters) - UK's main stock index fell sharply on
Monday as a violent day of protest in Hong Kong knocked
Asia-exposed financial stocks, while investors waited for UK
economic growth numbers.
The FTSE 100 slid 0.6% by 0906 GMT, handing back
nearly all the gains accumulated in the previous week, when
hopes of a U.S.-China trade deal lifted sentiment.
The FTSE 250 index, dominated by more domestically
focused firms, dipped 0.2% as a 10% surge by baker Greggs
after it forecast earnings ahead of expectations helped
limit losses..
Bluechips HSBC, Prudential and
China-exposed miners all slipped around 2% after
news that Hong Kong police shot and wounded one protester as
pro-democracy unrest continued into its 24th week.
"If the situation deteriorates further, it will not only
drag local equities lower but the region as a whole. That's the
kind of reaction we're seeing today," Hussein Sayed, Chief
Market Strategist at FXTM, said.
Furthermore, data showing China's producer prices fell the
most in more than three years in October amid its trade war with
the United States worsened sentiment on Monday.
Stock markets across the world had welcomed signs of
de-escalation in the protracted trade spat between Washington
and Beijing, with many traders hoping to see a deal this month.
But some of the cheer evaporated after President Donald
Trump said on Friday that he had not agreed to rollbacks of U.S.
tariffs sought by China.
Ahead of Britain's December election, a warning from Moody's
that it may cut the country's sovereign debt rating spoiled risk
appetite ahead of GDP numbers.
Moody's said neither of the main political parties was
likely to tackle high borrowing levels that Brexit had made even
harder to fix.
Investors turned to defensive stocks, considered less risky
at times of macroeconomic uncertainties, leaving tobacco
companies Imperial Brands and British American Tobacco
among a handful of risers on the main index.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca eked out a 1% gain following
positive safety data on its anaemia drug roxadustat.
Among smaller-cap stocks, fertiliser maker Sirius Minerals
jumped 12.1%, after earlier surging nearly 40%, as the
company produced a revised development plan for its North
Yorkshire polyhalite project.
(Reporting by Muvija M and Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru
Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and John Stonestreet)
