Britain’s main share index fell on Friday, with losses in travel and homebuilder stocks halting a three-day rally fuelled by stimulus actions to avert an economic meltdown due to the coronavirus crisis.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE fell 3.6% by 0827 GMT, with homebuilders such as Berkeley Group (BKGH.L), Taylor Wimpey (TW.L) and Persimmon (PSN.L) dropping between 5% and 10% after the UK government urged people to avoid moving house during the virus outbreak.
Shares in one of Britain’s largest housebuilders Redrow (RDW.L) fell 6% after revealing it was in talks with six banks to secure additional credit and had applied to take part in the Bank of England’s scheme for financing support.
Carnival Corp (CCL.L) slumped 10.9% to the bottom of the index, while the domestically focussed midcap stocks .FTMC declined 3.0%.
However, both the main indexes are on track for strong weekly gains as central banks and governments globally ramped up stimulus measures. The UK government said on Thursday it would pay a taxable grant to self-employed people who have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
