London’s FTSE 100 dropped on Wednesday, bogged down by heavyweight miners, although gains in Barclays on the back of strong earnings helped limit losses.
British lender Barclays gained 4.1%, after first-half profit nearly quadrupled as it followed Wall Street rivals in reaping bumper investment banking fees from frenzied dealmaking.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 eased 0.1% with BHP Group, Anglo American, Glencore and Rio Tinto among top drags.
The domestically focussed mid-cap index rose 0.5%, led by travel stocks.
Wizz Air jumped 4% to be the top mid-cap gainer after it said it expected to ramp up capacity to between 90% and 100% of pre-pandemic levels this month and next as summer demand for European travel grows.
Homebuilders were among the top gainers, up 1.4% after British house prices rose 10.5% in July compared with the same month last year, although prices fell by 0.5% from June.