UK stocks sink to lowest of the year on ECB uncertainty



UK stocks stooped to its lowest level so far for the year as investors doubted the asset-purchase program of the European Central Bank’s capacity to stimulate the euro-area economy.
The FTSE 100 shed 1.7% to 6,446.39 at the end of the trading session in London. It is the biggest slump of the gauge since January. The index sank after the ECB meeting where they outlined the details of the asset-purchase program. For the week alone, the index has already lost a total of 3.1% as grocers plummeted. This makes for a total of 1.8% loss for the quarter.
Ashtead Group Plc shed 4.6% to 977 pence. Xaar Plc plunged by 37%.
In the Thursday meeting, ECB President Mario Draghi announced that the ECB will be buying assets for at the very least, 2 years. It will start with covered-bonds purchases for the current month and then for the quarter, it will have asset-backed securities next with as much as 1 trillion euros or $1.3 trillion worth of assets to be possibly added in the ECB’s balance sheet. Draghi focused on the asset-purchase program however left investors hanging on further details such as the program’s size. Across the globe, stocks are on a global selloff as they are hit with a ‘risk-off’ period that had investors turning to safe havens like gold and bonds. US and Asian stocks are down with the former dragged by the ECB meeting and the jobless claim uptick while the latter faced the extension of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong to its seventh day.

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