FTSE 100 Slides Ahead Of Christmas Break

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks resumed declines on Monday and the British pound rose versus the dollar after a top White House official warned that it's "very possible" the partial government shutdown will stretch into the new year and trade advisor Peter Navarro said that the trade war between the U.S. and China would not come to an end in near-term.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 42 points or 0.63 percent at 6,679 in opening deals after closing 0.1 percent higher on Friday.

Banks Lloyds Bank, Barclays, HSBC Holdings and Royal Bank of Scotland fell 1-2 percent. Advertising firm WPP tumbled as much as 3.5 percent.

Mining giant Anglo American dropped 1.7 percent after it received Step 3 license approval for the Minas-Rio operation in Brazil.

Gambling technology group Playtech slumped 8.5 percent after a warning that a new Italian gambling tax will hit its 2019 earnings.

While Asian stock markets ended mixed in thin holiday trade, U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open later today after steep losses last week.