Britain's FTSE 100 slips as banks, energy stocks slide
Britain's FTSE 100 slips as banks, energy stocks slide Updates to market close
Aug 27 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 slipped for a second straight session on Thursday as weakness in bank and energy stocks eclipsed gains in data and software shares.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index .FTSE fell 0.8% to 10,792.54 points in its steepest one-day drop in 1-1/2 months. The midcap FTSE 250 .FTMC ended about flat.
Bank stocks .FTNMX301010 were among the biggest drags on the index as gilt yields fell after investors pushed back expectations for the Bank of England's next quarter-point interest rate hike to 2027.
Oil majors Shell SHEL.L and BP BP.L dropped about 1.5% each.
Technology shares .FTUB1010 were a bright spot, leading gains sectorally, up 1% as Nvidia NVDA.O forecast a 70% jump in revenue next fiscal year, underscoring unabated demand for AI computing.
UK's data and software firms climbed after forecast bumps from Salesforce CRM.N and CrowdStrike CRWD.O offered a boost to the lagging sector. Relx REL.L gained 3.3%, London Stock Exchange Group LSEG.L added 4.4% and Experian EXPN.L climbed 2.8%.
Among individual stocks, Britain's Halfords HFD.L jumped 12.6% to the top of the FTSE Midcap index after forecasting annual profit above market expectations.
Computacenter CCC.L rose 4.7% to a record high and topped the FTSE 100 index after Peel Hunt upgraded the stock to "buy" from "add" and raised its price target to 6,000 pence from 4,400 pence.
Ten Lifestyle Group TENG.L climbed 3.9% after it said it had secured a new multi-year contract in the Americas.
Attention shifts to a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at Jackson Hole on Friday after hotter-than-expected inflation data prompted investors to modestly increase bets on a rate hike next month.
(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Gareth Jones)
((tharuniyaa@thomsonreuters.com))