London: Shares open lower as energy stocks weigh

UK shares opened slightly lower on Friday (Aug 5), with energy stocks leading the declines, a day after the Bank of England raised interest rates by the most in 27 years.

The FTSE 100 index dipped 0.1 per cent, while the midcaps index also shed 0.1 per cent.

The FTSE 100 index ended flat on Thursday after the British central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee raised its Bank Rate by half percentage point to 1.75 per cent — the highest level since late-2008.

Oil majors Shell and BP fell more than 1 per cent each, weighing the most on the blue-chip UK index.

WPP, the world’s largest advertising group, increased its annual net sales outlook, but shares of the company fell 5.3 per cent in early trading.

Investors across the globe now await the release of US jobs data, waiting to see whether the Federal Reserve’s aggressive pace of rate hikes is slowing growth in the world’s largest economy. REUTERS