The UK’s main stock market indexes slumped on Thursday, mirroring a sharp selloff in global equities, as investors dumped risky assets after Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index
UKX,
dropped 3.1 %, though losses on the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 were less severe compared with its European peers, with the Stoxx Europe 600
SXXP,
down 3.6%.
Russia-exposed miners such as EVRAZ
EVR,
and Petropavlovsk
POG,
plummeted between 16.6% and 43.5%, while London-listed depository shares of Russian bank Sberbank Rossii
SBER,
tumbled 75.3%.
The FTSE 100 has outperformed European indexes so far this year after underperforming for five years, helped by a jump in commodity stocks on the back of geopolitical tensions and strength in financial shares as central banks raise interest rates to combat inflation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Britain’s largest high-street bank Lloyds
LLOY,
fell 8.1% after missing profit expectations.
