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UPDATE 2-Banks, energy stocks drag FTSE 100 lower as Deliveroo slumps on debut

Wed, 31st Mar 2021 09:41

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window)

* Deliveroo shares plunge in market debut

* Q4 GDP +1.3% vs preliminary estimate +1.0%

* Topps Tiles falls on lower half-year sales

* FTSE 100 down 0.9%, FTSE 250 off 0.3%
(Adds comment; updates to close)

By Shivani Kumaresan and Devik Jain

March 31 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 fell on Wednesday,
dragged down by banks and energy stocks, while food delivery
company Deliveroo's shares slumped more than 26% on its trading
debut.

The blue-chip index closed 0.9% lower, with oil
heavyweights BP and Royal Dutch Shell falling
more than 2.2%.

Banks were the biggest drags to the index while consumer
discretionary stocks including Flutter Entertainment,
Kingfisher Plc, Compass Group and Burberry Group
Plc were among the top decliners.

The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index
ended 0.3% lower.

Britain's coronavirus-hammered economy grew more quickly
than previously thought in the final three months of last year
but still shrank by the most in more than three centuries in
2020 as a whole, official data showed on Wednesday.

"Whilst there are still clear structural headwinds for the
UK economy, the near-term cyclical outlook is very strong," said
Michael Matthews, fixed-income fund manager at Invesco.

"COVID restrictions are being eased, fiscal and monetary
policy is highly supportive, credit growth is robust and the
build-up of excess savings leaves scope for additional
spending."

The FTSE 100 has rebounded more than 34% from a March 23
coronavirus-driven closing low last year, but it has struggled
to reach pre-pandemic highs on increasing worries about
inflation and the economic impact of lockdowns.

Topps Tiles fell 0.3% after reporting lower
half-year sales, but the tile retailer said it expects sales to
rise "sharply" and margins to recover to normal levels as the
current lockdown in the United Kingdom gradually eases by the
middle of April.

Deliveroo Holdings Inc closed down 26.3%, after
diving as much as 30% in its trading debut in a blow to
Britain's ambitions to attract fast-growing tech companies to
the London market.
(Reporting by Shivani Kumaresan in Bengaluru and Devik Jain;
editing by Uttaresh.V and Nick Macfie)

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