FTSE 100 watch: Footsie ends winning streak amid Fed concerns

The FTSE 100 has slipped into negative territory today, ending a three-session winning streak, with investors digesting the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting. A drop in Kingfisher (LON:KGF) is also weighing on the blue-chip index after the B&Q owner delivered a fall in quarterly sales.

As of 12:17 BST, the FTSE 100 had given up 27.84 points to stand 0.37 percent lower at 7,405.19. Investor sentiment has been subdued today after the minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting revealed that the US central bank was growing wary about recent weak inflation.

“The Federal Open Market Committee minutes confirmed one thing, which is that the committee members are not on the same page and there is no clear date when the Fed will initiate the process of reducing the size of the balance sheet,” Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets in London, wrote in a note, as quoted by Reuters.

Shares in precious metals miners Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) and Fresnillo (LON:FRES), however, have been in demand, as the Fed’s indecisiveness pressured the US dollar, boosting gold prices. Randgold’s share price is currently 2.55 percent up at 7,430.00p, while shares in Fresnillo are changing hands 3.28 percent higher at 1,556.00p.

In individual Footsie movers, Europe’s largest home improvement retailer Kingfisher has tumbled to the bottom of the blue-chip leaderboard after revealing that its total sales had slipped 1.9 percent to £3.1 billion in the second quarter of the year. The B&Q owner further noted that it was cautious on its second-half outlook for the UK and France. Kingfisher’s shares are 5.50 percent worse off at 292.10p.

The FTSE 100 was 0.33 percent down at 7,408.50 points as of 12:33 BST on Thursday, 17 August 2017.