London close: UK stocks end in the red after China cuts renminbi

(ShareCast News) - UK stocks ended Tuesday's session in the red after China's central bank devalued its currency, adding to concerns about the slowdown in the world's second largest economy.Overnight, the People's Bank of China cut the renminbi's daily fixed rate to the dollar by 1.9% to 6,228, the most on record.The dollar appreciated following the decision, sending shares in Glencore, BHP Billiton, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and Anglo American lower."The commodity-related companies are feeling the pain of the Beijing decision, and faith won't be restored in the metals industry until Beijing's actions show signs of improvement," said David Madden, market analyst at IG.Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said devaluing the yen should support exporters at the expense of other exporting nations in the region.He said the move will also raise further questions about whether the US Federal Reserve can still seriously consider raising rates this year."The process of competitive devaluation among numerous countries that are easing monetary policy is effectively exporting deflation to those that aren't, particularly those contemplating rate hikes."Any move by the Fed to now raise rates could strengthen the currency by more than previously expected. Whether that will be enough to encourage the Fed to delay such a hike isn't clear but if they were not sure before, this certainly won't help matters," he said.Closer to home, Bank of England policymaker David Miles said on Monday he was close to voting for higher interest rates at the policy meeting last week as he saw a reasonable case but did not find the arguments conclusive."Sterling had gone up a bit, oil prices had fallen a bit, there were somewhat ambiguous signals from the labour market, but on balance it was a set of economic news that probably reduced at least the near-term inflation profile by a non-trivial amount," he told Bloomberg.However, he warned that the longer the Bank leaves rates at 0.5%, the faster they may need to rise in the future.In other UK news, British retail sales increased at a slower annual rate in July as wet weather hurt spending on food for barbecues, according to the British Retail Consortium. Retail spending climbed 2.2% year-on-year last month after rising 2.9% in June.Meanwhile, Greece and its creditors have reached an agreement on a third bailout for the country on Tuesday morning after a marathon session of talks. The Hellenic nation reached an outline agreement on a €86bn deal, after agreeing a budget with a primary deficit of 0.25% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, improving to a 0.5% surplus in 2016, a 1.75% in 2017 and a 3.15% surplus in 2018.Gold price increase boosts minersPrecious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources made healthy gains as gold prices hit a three-week high.Prudential gained after reporting a better-than-expected 17% rise in first-half operating profit and lifted its interim dividend, pointing to strong performances in all of its business units.Ladbrokes declined after posting a 44% drop in adjusted first-half profit to £24.7m, reflecting lower betting on football.Serco reversed earlier gains after maintaining its full-year profit guidance and reporting a better-than-expected fall in revenue in its first half.Standard Chartered slumped on news it was the second biggest bank to walk away from the Carmichael coal mine in Australia in a week. Market MoverstechMARK 3,208.90 -0.58%FTSE 100 6,664.54 -1.06%FTSE 250 17,666.96 -0.53%FTSE 100 - RisersPrudential (PRU) 1,577.00p +4.68%Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,344.00p +1.51%Inmarsat (ISAT) 977.00p +0.98%ARM Holdings (ARM) 959.50p +0.79%Ashtead Group (AHT) 975.00p +0.62%Fresnillo (FRES) 653.00p +0.54%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 3,952.00p +0.53%TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,050.00p +0.48%Travis Perkins (TPK) 2,132.00p +0.47%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 507.00p +0.40%FTSE 100 - FallersGlencore (GLEN) 191.00p -7.26%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,148.50p -5.00%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,536.00p -4.42%Anglo American (AAL) 774.80p -4.16%GKN (GKN) 309.40p -3.70%Antofagasta (ANTO) 572.00p -3.70%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,553.50p -3.09%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,880.00p -2.64%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 258.30p -2.31%Sky (SKY) 1,069.00p -2.11%FTSE 250 - RisersSynthomer (SYNT) 350.40p +6.28%Aldermore Group (ALD) 298.70p +4.99%Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 572.50p +4.38%Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 254.30p +4.18%Allied Minds (ALM) 461.00p +3.53%Cineworld Group (CINE) 548.50p +3.10%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 251.70p +2.73%Carillion (CLLN) 354.30p +2.70%Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,153.00p +1.95%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 54.65p +1.67%FTSE 250 - FallersVedanta Resources (VED) 454.00p -7.61%Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 151.90p -6.75%Lonmin (LMI) 41.60p -6.20%Just Retirement Group (JRG) 187.80p -5.49%Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 325.00p -4.24%Aggreko (AGK) 1,061.00p -3.89%Polymetal International (POLY) 442.70p -3.70%Tullow Oil (TLW) 219.80p -3.60%Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) 115.90p -2.85%Premier Oil (PMO) 119.90p -2.68%FTSE TechMARK - RisersTriad Group (TRD) 37.00p +4.23%DRS Data & Research Services (DRS) 13.00p +1.96%NCC Group (NCC) 237.75p +0.96%Spirent Communications (SPT) 80.50p +0.94%Consort Medical (CSRT) 933.00p +0.54%IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 201.70 +0.39%E2V Technologies (E2V) 226.25p +0.11%FTSE TechMARK - FallersRM (RM.) 179.25p -3.11%KCOM Group (KCOM) 95.50p -1.80%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 8.80p -1.68%Dialight (DIA) 550.00p -1.61%Torotrak (TRK) 6.25p -1.57%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 930.00p -1.54%BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 18.25p -1.35%Ricardo (RCDO) 914.00p -0.81%Skyepharma (SKP) 277.75p -0.80%XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,707.50p -0.73%