(Reuters) -London stocks edged lower on Monday, with financial sector weakness pulling the market down at the start of a week filled with crucial economic data releases.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% by 12:30 GMT, heading toward its third consecutive session of losses. The mid-cap index FTSE 250 fell 0.4%, poised to mark its fourth straight day of decline.
Heavyweight banking sector was down 0.8%, with Barclays , HSBC, and Standard Chartered falling between 0.7% and 1%.
Advertising group WPP rose 5% after the Times reported, citing sources, that the firm has drawn takeover interest from French rival Havas and private equity firms Apollo and KKR.
Construction & Materials fell 1.2% following a survey by property website Rightmove that showed weakening UK home prices, which dropped 1.8% in the four weeks to November 8 – the largest decline for this time of year since 2012.
Additionally, finance minister Rachel Reeves is set to introduce a levy on high-value homes in her annual budget on November 26, according to the Telegraph.
The main indexes fell sharply on Friday after reports of Reeves reversing of a planned tax hike drove gilt yields higher.
Market attention now shifts to this week’s UK inflation report, as the budget announcement approaches and the Bank of England contemplates its interest rate decision ahead of the December 18 monetary policy meeting.
Also this week, global investors will focus on U.S. jobs data and quarterly results from AI powerhouse Nvidia.
Back in the UK, metal miners dropped 0.9% as copper prices slipped.
HICL Infrastructure plunged 7.3% after announcing a 3.98 billion pounds ($5.2 billion) merger deal with The Renewables Infrastructure.
Water solutions manufacturer Genuit slumped 13.2% after forecasting full-year profit below estimates.
($1 = 0.7596 pounds)
(Reporting by Utkarsh Tushar Hathi; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
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