FTSE 100 watch: Footsie little changed as miners weigh

The UK benchmark index has slipped marginally into the red in today’s session, pressured by a selloff in miners which have reacted to downbeat data out of China, the world’s biggest metals consumer. Investors are also digesting corporate earnings, including Paddy Power Betfair’s (LON:PPB) results which came after the company announced a change at the top yesterday.

As of 12:27 BST, the FTSE 100 had lost 4.24 points to stand 0.06 percent lower at 7,527.70. Miners are proving a drag on the index in today’s session, as China’s trade data for July fell short of expectations. Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) is currently leading other London-listed resources stocks lower, having shed 1.06 percent to 3,598.5p.

In individual Footsie fallers, Paddy Power Betfair has extended the previous session’s losses after the company updated investors on its half-year performance, with earnings falling short of analyst estimates. The results came after the group announced yesterday that CEO Breon Corcoran would step down, to be succeeded by Peter Jackson.

“Paddy Power Betfair delivered an earnings miss due to net revenue margins coming in below our expectations once again,” said analysts at Davy Research, as quoted by Reuters. Paddy Power Betfair’s share price 4.08 percent worse off at 7,242.17p.

InterContinental Hotels Group (LON:IHG) has been another prominent Footsie faller after revealing that its revenue growth had slowed in the second quarter of the year. InterContinental’s shares are currently changing hands 4.46 percent in the red at 4,214.00p.

Standard Life (LON:SL) is also underperforming the broader UK market, having shed 0.72 percent to 442.10p after reporting fund outflows for the first half of the year.

The FTSE 100 was 0.07 percent down at 7,526.53 points as of 12:46 BST on Tuesday, 08 August 2017.