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FTSE 100 falls on election day

Xinhua, May 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

FTSE 100 Index, the British benchmark stock market gauge, decreased by 0.67 percent, or 46.79 points, to 6,886.95 points, on Thursday as election-day jitters in Britain weighed on sentiment.

The outcome of the 2015 general election in Britain that took place Thursday has been the hardest one to predict in several decades. With a few hours to go before voting ends and exit poll results are released, investors were cautious over uncertainty as to which party would win the general election.

British supermarket chain Morrison's shares closed lower as it reported another fall in sales on Thursday.

The grocer said like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell 2.9 percent in the three months to May 3. The performance was worse than the previous quarter when sales dropped 2.6 percent.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets led the top losers of the blue chips with a hefty share price drop of 6.55 percent, followed by GlaxoSmithKline (4.46 percent), Anglo American (4.03 percent), BHP Billiton (3.54 percent) and Admiral Group (3.48 percent).

Carnival's share price increased by 3.72 percent, topping the gainers of the blue chips. SABMiller, Aberdeen Asset Management, International Consolidated Airlines Group SA and easyJet increased by 3.65 percent, 3.29 percent, 3.12 percent and 2.71 percent respectively.

The index has gained 6.59 percent so far this year when measured in U.S. dollars. Endit