On Monday, the UK stock markets declined as fresh worries about the condition of the second-largest economy in the world arose.
Global investor sentiment suffered following news that Country Garden, one of China’s largest real estate developers, was having financial difficulties.
The corporation stopped trading in some of its mainland bonds, igniting concerns about the country’s real estate market and causing losses for mining equities with an overseas focus as well as property stocks.
The FTSE 100 in London lost momentum and fell 17.01 points, or 0.23%, to settle at 7,507.15 on Monday.
It comes ahead of two significant official datasets that will be released later this week—on Tuesday, the Office for National Statistics will provide data on the labor market, and on Wednesday, the most recent inflation rates will be released.
Other European markets were doing better, with the Dax in Germany up 0.46% and the Cac in France rising 0.12%.
When European markets closed, the Dow Jones was up 0.15%, while the S&P 500 had a strong start to trading in the US, up 0.5%.
The pound increased by around 0.2% against the euro to 1.162 while remaining unchanged against the US dollar at 1.269.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst for CMC Markets UK, stated: “Despite trying to rally early in trading, European markets have struggled for gains as they look to recover some ground after two weeks of losses.
This is due to a weak Asian session and worries about the Chinese real estate market.
The FTSE 100 has particularly struggled, falling back because of losses in the real estate, energy, and basic resources sectors.
Mining and energy companies have also fallen back due to worries about Chinese demand.
Brent crude oil cost 86.3 US dollars per barrel, a 0.6% decrease.
In business news, Lok’nStore’s stock edged higher as the self-storage company said that demand for its services remained strong despite price increases last year.
In its full-year results report, the company stated that its occupancy rates had remained consistent and that it was investing in additional sites.
Its stock price increased by 1.9%.
Plus500, an online trading company, witnessed its share price decline from morning highs.
Following the London-listed company’s disclosure of a decline in revenues and profitability due to lower trading activity, it was announced that more money was being distributed to shareholders.
After fluctuating around 5% on Monday morning, its share price settled 1% higher.
Budget retailer B&M rose to the top of the FTSE 100 in other news following reports that Wilko, a rival that went into administration last week, has until Wednesday to receive viable rescue offers.
Shares of it increased by 3%.
B&M European Value Retail increased by 16.2 pence to 554 pence, Airtel Africa increased by 3.4 pence to 119 pence, JD Sports Fashion increased by 3.15 pence to 146.45 pence, Coca-Cola HBC increased by 39 pence to 2,326 pence, and Hargreaves Lansdown increased by 13.4 pence to 801.2 pence.
Ocado Group, down 36p to 796.2p, Anglo American, down 77p to 2,074p, Entain, down 42.5p to 1,270p, Persimmon, down 34p to 1,095.5p, and Fresnillo, down 15.2p to 525.4p, were the biggest losers on the FTSE 100.