FTSE 100 Down Slightly As Stocks Turn In Mixed Performance

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks are turning in a mixed performance in cautious trade on Tuesday with traders back to trading after a long weekend. Investors are awaiting the monetary policy announcements from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, due on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold rates, while the BoE is likely to lower interest rates by 25 basis points.

The benchmark FTSE 100, which moved into positive territory earlier in the session, was down 7.06 points or 0.08% at 8,589.29 a little while ago.

Endeavour Mining is gaining more than 6%. Fresnillo, British American Tobacco, Sainsbury (J), Tesco, Land Securities, Imperial Brands, Diageo, Entain and Kingfisher are up 1 to 3%.

AstraZeneca is gaining about 0.6% on receiving EU approval for Calquence (acalabrutinib) in combination with bendamustine and rituximab.

Deliveroo is up nearly 2% after the company agreed to be acquired by US food delivery major DoorDash in a deal valuing the company at 2.9 billion pounds.

Anglo American Plc shares are down more than 3% after Peabody notified the company that the issues involving the Moranbah North Mine constituted a Material Adverse Change as per the deal terms.

Marks & Spencer, Mondia, Standard Chartered, Anglo American Plc and Melrose Industries are down 3.2 to 4%.

WPP, EasyJet, Scottish Mortgage, Pearson, Shell, Experian, Barclays Group and Natwest Group are also notably lower.

In economic news, the S&P Global UK Composite PMI fell to 48.5 in April from 51.5 in March, revised slightly higher from the flash reading of 48.2. The reading came in below initial market expectations of 50.4, reflecting the first contraction in the nation's economic activity since October of 2023.

The manufacturing PMI came in at 45.4 in April, compared to 44.9 in March, while the Services sector PMI fell to 49.0 in April from 52.5 in March, the S&P Global data showed.

A report from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited showed that new car registrations in the UK fell by 10.4% year-on-year in April to 120,331 units, 13,943 fewer than the same month last year and 25.3% below April 2019 levels.