10 August, 2017
Shares in precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources topped the index, gaining almost 5 percent and 2.8 percent respectively, as investors fled to safe-haven assets on worries over tensions between the United States and North Korea, with Pyongyang saying it was considering plans for a missile strike on Guam.
The weaker markets followed President Trump's warning to North Korea that it would see "fire and fury like the world has never seen" if it continued to threaten the United States.
The remarks followed a new report asserting that USA intelligence has assessed that North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles.
In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.6% to 7,498.06 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-falls-as-us-north-korea-tensions-prompt-flight-to-safety-2017-08-09), and Spain's IBEX 35 slumped 1.3% to 10,596.00.
Shares in Ladbrokes Coral helped bring up the rear, dropping more than 5 percent as top shareholders sold their shares in the betting firm, while Essentra dropped 5.4 percent after broker Numis cut its rating on the stock to "hold" from "add".
The biggest fallers were G4S down 24.7p to 305.9p, Standard Chartered down 20.9p to 783.1p, Prudential down 44p to 1,841.5p, Shire down 92p to 3,945p. Prudential, an worldwide financial services group, fell 2.33 percent. The shares had gained around 40 percent this year ahead of the earnings release.
BONDS: Bond prices rose.
"The stand-off between the two countries has encouraged dealers to dump stocks and seek safe haven investments like gold".
Banks meanwhile suffered heavy losses, down 1.2 percent. Silver also rose, gaining 43 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $16.82 an ounce.
The price of oil was also 0.3 per cent ahead at $52.29 a barrel, with stockpiles coming under pressure from falling crude oil imports and record processing at American refineries.
The euro fetched $1.1748, not far off from $1.1752 late Wednesday in NY.
