The FTSE 100 fell more than 1% on Tuesday to its lowest level in over three weeks, dragged down by broad-based weakness in banking, healthcare and energy stocks. Among lenders, HSBC Holdings dropped around 4%, while Standard Chartered slid more than 5%. Oil majors also retreated, with Shell down 1.8% and BP losing 2.6%.
In healthcare, performance was mixed. AstraZeneca declined 1.1%, and GSK edged 0.3% lower, as investors weighed concerns following its $10.6 billion acquisition of cancer drug developer Nuvalent. Telecoms were under pressure as well, with BT shares falling more than 3% after reports that Vodafone-Three is among the bidders for TalkTalk’s consumer division, which serves roughly 1.75 million customers.
There were some bright spots: advertising group WPP climbed more than 5% after receiving a broker upgrade. On the macro front, UK retail sales in May outperformed expectations, helped by warmer weather that lifted demand for summer and outdoor goods. Like-for-like sales rose 3.4%, comfortably beating forecasts of 0.8% growth.
