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UK stocks fell more than 1% in early trading on Monday as fears about global growth weighed on commodity prices, hurting miners, while Prudential slumped on a big capital raising.
At 0824, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 76.72 points, or 1.1%, at 6,886.92, with Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto among the biggest losers.
Insurance giant Prudential dropped 5.9% to £13.61 having announced an up to $2.89 billion capital raising in Hong Kong that it said would cut debt and provide financial flexibility.
Prudential was raising up to 5% of its issued share capital, or up to about 130.8 million shares, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at a maximum offer price of HK$172 per share.
Energy utility SSE fell 0.5% to £16.265 after it said 'there has been no decision' to break up the company, amid press reports that activist investor Elliot wants it to sell or separate its renewables business.
SSE reiterated that it would provide an update on its growth strategy with its half-year results in November, including details of 'significantly increased' capital investment for the period to 2026.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca added 2.3% to £82.52 after it reported positive study results for a breast cancer treatment developed with Daiichi Sankyo. Speciality baker Finsbury Food firmed 1.2% to 96.12p after it reported a bounce back in profit owing to a recovery in sales during the second half as lockdowns eased.
Finsbury's Food's profit jumped to £17 million as revenue rose 2.3%, though in the second half revenue rose 9.1%.
Plastics producer Victrex softened 0.6% to £24.68 on announcing that it had appointed Vivienne Cox as its incoming chairman, to replace Larry Pentz next year.
Cox was currently a non-executive director of GlaxoSmithKline and had previously spent 28 years at BP, where she latterly headed up its renewable energy businesses.
Pharmaceutical services company Open Orphan rose 3.7% to 26.45p after it swung to a first-half profit, though it trimmed its guidance for the full-year due to delayed Covid-19 treatment trials.
Open Orphan also announced it had secured a £5.7 million contract from a 'specialist biotechnology company' developing therapeutics for respiratory viral infections.
Vehicle services group Redde Northgate advanced 0.5% to 432.33 on announcing that its business had continued to perform 'strongly' since a trading update in July owing to 'sizeable' contract wins.