UK shares retreat after Washington’s authorization of air strikes in Iraq

Shares in the United Kingdom marked a third successive session of losses on Friday, as US President Barack Obama authorized the use of force against militants in Iraq.

The FTSE 100 Index lost 0.45% on a daily basis, or 30.01 points, to close at 6,567.36 in London, which has been the lowest closing level since April 15th. The benchmark fell 1,72% over the last three trading sessions, while recording a 1.66% decline for the whole week. The index also marked its first back-to-back weekly drop since the week ended on March 9th. Within the FTSE 100, 36 stocks recorded a daily advance, 62 stocks lost ground, while 3 remain unchanged.

The wider benchmark, FTSE All-Share Index, lost 0.4% on Friday.

On Thursday President Barack Obama authorized air strikes against members from the group, known as the Islamic State, that has trapped thousands of people from a minority religious sect on a mountain close to the border with Syria. Obama also said that no US ground troops are to be deployed in Iraq.

Schroders PLC (SDR:LN) registered the most considerable daily retreat within the FTSE 100 Index, falling 2.68%, or 61.000 pence, to close at 2,213.000 pence on Friday. This has been the stocks largest daily loss since July 31st. On a weekly basis, Schroders fell 4.84%, following another 6.96% loss in the prior week. Aberdeen Asset Management Plc’s CEO, Martin Gilbert, said that experts have been quite bullish in regard to the fund management industry. “We have got into a situation where the industry has over-promised and under-delivered”, Gilbert said, cited by Bloomberg.

Smiths Group PLC (SMIN:LN) fell 2.50%, or 32.000 GBp, to close at 1,248.000 GBp on Friday, while Tullow Oil PLC (TLW:LN) dropped 2.41%, or 17.500 GBp, to close at 710.000 GBp.