Shares are down in the UK and across Europe today as investors brace for tomorrow's expected 0.25% increase in the key US interest rate, sending the FTSE 100 index down about 10 points to 4,508.
Mining stocks lead the losers as investors await the outcome of a strike vote by workers at Chile’s third biggest copper mine. Anglo American is down 22p to 1,135p, BHP Billiton is down 5p to 474.5p. Man Group is down 15p to 1,485p. Rising interest rates are generally bad for the performance of hedge funds of the sort offered by Man. Banks are also under pressure. Royal Bank of Scotland is down 16p to 1,618p, while HSBC, Europe’s biggest by market value, is down 3p to 819.5p on news an Asian acquisition could be more expensive than previously thought. BAE Systems has jumped 6...
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