FTSE 100 closes lower by 0.04 pct

FTSE 100 Index, British benchmark stock market gauge, Thursday edged down 0.04 percent, or 2.86 points, to 6568.33, as China's currency yuan continuing devaluation weighed on the market.

On the same day, official data showed that Greece's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.8 percent in the second quarter of 2015 from the previous quarter. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected to see a 0.5 percent contraction.

On a year-on-year basis, the Greek economy grew by 1.5 per cent during the quarter.

Data from the United States showed that the country's retail sales rose 0.6 percent in July from June, beating expectations of a 0.5 percent increase. The figures for May were revised up from a 0.3 percent fall to flat.

G4S's share price decreased by 5.22 percent, topping the losers of the blue chips.

Prices of Rio Tinto, Randgold Resources, Royal Dutch Shell 'B' share and 'A' share dropped by 3.88 percent, 3.34 percent, 3.12 percent and 3.01 percent respectively.

Coca-Cola HBC led the top gainers of the blue chips with a share price increase of 5.41 percent, as it announced better-than-expectation financial statement, followed by TUI (6.51 percent), London Stock Exchange (3.41 percent), CRH (3.16 percent) and Hikma Pharmaceuticals (2.32 percent).

Trading volume in FTSE 100 companies was 10 percent smaller than its 30-day average. And the index has gained 3.09 percent so far this year. Endit