Banks and commodity stocks led the fallers as London’s top markets closed lower on Tuesday.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “Last week’s US credit rating downgrade seemed like the perfect beginning of a market selloff, but this morning’s abysmal China trade data is a much more compelling reason for investors to cut back on risk. Meanwhile, sterling fell on Tuesday as British Retail Consortium industry sales figures showed a slowdown in trade last month.
It recorded a 16% jump in net outflows to £4.4 billion, as more people moved money out of funds and investments with Abrdn.Shares in InterContinental Hotels Group gained on Tuesday on the back of higher sales as it told shareholders there have been “no signs” of people cutting back on leisure trips.