The FTSE closed down today with investors in a cautious mood for most of the day ahead of a G7 meeting this weekend. It ended 0.3 per cent lower at 7,681.07 points. Markets fell as Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin should attend the summit in La Malbaie in Quebec, Canada. Russia was expelled from what was then known as the G8 in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea. Trump told reporters before he left Washington that Russia should "have a place at the negotiating table" despite its actions against Ukraine. Other tensions over Trump's trade policies against China and the EU, in which he has threatened to impose higher tariffs on certain goods, have also led to a war of words before the summit which the UK, Canada, the US, France, Germany, Italy and Japan will attend. Meanwhile, currency traders reacted with alarm to comments by the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who said the EU's backstop for Northern Ireland could not apply to the whole of the UK. His comments have seen the pound fall 0.12 per cent against the dollar at $1.3404 at market close. Top risers and fallers BT started the day as the top riser following the news that its CEO Gavin Patterson stepped down after facing months of criticism over his tenure, in which he oversaw the axing of 13,000 jobs as BT aims to tackle fierce competition and cut costs. The jobs - mainly back office and middle management roles, two-thirds of which are UK-based - will be lost over the next three years. At market close the top riser was Barratt Developments followed by Reckitt Benckiser Group, Smurfit Kappa Associated British Foods and Compass Group. The mining sector was heavily represented among the top fallers. Fresnillo, Evraz, Antofagasta and Glencore all dropped in share price, as did asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen. Connor Campbell, an analyst at Spreadex said: "This week has been a bit of an odd one, with a fingers-in-ears approach to global trade tensions unravelling slightly in the last couple of days. Next week, however, is jam-packed with hardcore economic news for investors to focus on, from the latest Fed and ECB meetings coming to a UK wage growth, inflation and retail sales hat-trick. All this could be incredibly important for the pound, especially against the dollar, where it has been attempting something of a comeback." |