The capital's premier bluechip index ticked down at the close on Tuesday amid weak mining stocks and worries over Ashtead and Barclays. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 0.31 per cent lower at 7,489.58, while the FTSE 250, which is more aligned with the health of the domestic economy, ticked up 0.63 per cent to 18,476.30.

Meanwhile, the London Stock Exchange was hit by two outages disrupting trading in some 2,000 smaller stocks - the third incident of its kind since October.

The price of gold was under pressure after surging past $2,100 per ounce to a new record on Monday. The price of the metal was trading lower at $2,015 per ounce at 4.30pm in London.

After Bitcoin jumped this week, rising past $42,000 for the first time since April, it traded at $41,500 yesterday.

Elsewhere, new data showed job openings across the US economy have fallen, suggesting weakness in the country's labour market.

Opens fell to 8.7m on the last business day of October, far below the 9.3m expected.

A fall in base metals prices dragged down Endeavour Mining, Anglo American, Fresnillo and Antofagasta as the mining stocks were among the biggest losers on the FTSE 100.

Ashtead closed 3.5 per cent lower after the construction equipment firm's chief executive said the company was in a "position of strength," despite a rare profit warning in November, as it reported flat second quarter profits.

Barclays shares fell 2.3 per cent after Qatar's sovereign wealth fund cut its stake in the bank by half.

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper