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UK's FTSE 100 fell on Thursday as investors globally fretted over the broadening impact of inflation on economic growth, while Royal Mail slid after reporting disappointing results.
The blue-chip index dropped 0.7% by 0707 GMT, as Asian and European markets were hammered by a bruising sell-off on Wall Street after retail giant Target warned of a bigger margin hit.
Britain's consumer companies and retailers dropped 2.4% and 1.7%, respectively, leading sectoral losses.
Oil & gas stocks held steady as Brent crude prices recovered early losses to trade above $110 a barrel.
Royal Mail tumbled 6.3% to the bottom of FTSE 100 after the postal company's 2021-22 profit came in slightly below market expectations.
Housebuilder Countryside Partnerships Plc slid 2.5% after it reported a lower half-year profit as the group recovers from operational issues including costly expansions and losses from manufacturing businesses.
Low-cost carrier easyJet rose 2.8% after it said bookings in the last 10 weeks were consistently above pre-pandemic levels.
HomeServe jumped 11.1% to the top of FTSE midcap 250 index after Canada's Brookfield Asset Management said it had agreed to buy the British home repair services firm for 4.08 billion pounds ($5.04 billion).
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)