FTSE 100 drops despite eased restrictions in China as health firms dip

The FTSE dipped as it was impacted by weaker health stocks and caution over global political and economic uncertainty.The easing of China’s zero Covid measures failed to make major inroads into the markets at start of the week amid continued nervousness about central bank decisions and weaker consumer sentiment in recent weeks.The top index finished the day down 34.85 points, or 0.48%, at 7,299.99.Elsewhere in Europe, sentiment was somewhat better. The German Dax improved 0.55% by the end of the session and the French Cac finished 0.03% higher.Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: ‘European markets have seen a choppy start to the week, as the end of week hope around a China reopening gives way to a semblance of reality that any reopening plan is unlikely to happen quickly. The FTSE 100 has underperformed primarily due to a slide in the health care sector after GSK reported disappointing results on its Blenrep blood cancer drug trialMichael Hewson, CMC Markets UK’Sentiment has also been cautious ahead of tomorrow’s US mid-term elections and the latest CPI report later this week.’The FTSE 100 has underperformed primarily due to a slide in the health care sector after GSK reported disappointing results on its Blenrep blood cancer drug trial which failed to meet its primary endpoint.’The drugs giant closed down 68.2p at 1,377.4p as it recorded the second disappointing result in a matter of weeks.Across the Atlantic, moved slightly higher at the start of play as it kept up the momentum from a strong end to last week.Meanwhile, sterling has rebounded somewhat after a dire showing last week as it also benefited from a sell-off in the dollar.The pound was up 0.75% against the dollar at 1.145, and was 0.4% higher against the euro at 1.146 at the close.In company news, Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment saw its shares make gains after the firm claimed victory in a long-running dispute with Fox Corporation over its US FanDuel business.Fox has a long-term option to purchase 18.6% of FanDuel and Flutter said the new arbitration ruling means the option will be based on a valuation of the company at 22 billion dollars (£19.2 billion).Shares in Flutter were up 305p at 11,815p on Monday.Fashion firm Joules lost almost a quarter of its value after it revealed talks with investors including founder Tom Joule to inject cash into the business as sales continue to disappoint.It said it was also continuing to explore a possible company voluntary arrangement (CVA) restructuring as trading remains under pressure, with sales for the 11 weeks to October 30 lower than expected and profit margins taking a hit due to discount sales.Joules was 3.22p lower at 10.48p at the close.The price of oil edged higher despite disappointing trade data from China.Brent crude oil increased by 0.5% to 99.06 US dollars per barrel when the London markets closed.The biggest risers in the FTSE 100  were Ocado Group, up 40.2p at 674.2p, Frasers group, up 38.5p at 706p, Sainsbury’s, up 9.3p at 218p, Flutter Entertainment, up 305p at 11,815p, and Next, up 130p at 5,258p.The biggest fallers of the day were GSK, down 68.2p at 1,377.4p, Centrica, down 3.3p at 76.62p, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, down 23.4p at 743.4p, Convatec, down 6p at 210.2p, and HSBC, down 10.6p at 479.4p.