FTSE 100 posts weekly loss as AI jitters spark risk-off move

Nov 6 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1% on Friday after touching a more than three-week low earlier in the session and registered a weekly decline, as AI jitters following Democrats' capture of the US Congress sparked a broad risk-off move.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 1.01% to 10,673.94 points and was down 0.5% for the week, while the midcap FTSE 250 slipped 0.80%, but still eked out a tiny weekly gain.

• The Democrats' capture of the US House and Senate earlier this week sparked concerns of AI regulation, a slowdown in data-centre buildouts and hyperscalers tightening their purse strings

• The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes traded higher on Friday, after posting on Thursday their sharpest one-day falls since April 2025

• "When $2.5 trillion of value is lost from one of the major US stock market indices in a day, it's understandable that investors are feeling on edge," said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell

• The jitters spilled over to global markets, with the European benchmark STOXX 600 ending 1% lower [.EU]

• Most sectors in London slid, with precious metal miners being an exception and rising 1.7%

• Telecom stocks dropped 3.6%, leading the declines in the index, with BT Group and Airtel Africa sliding 6.4% and 4%, respectively

• Traditionally defensive sectors such as pharma and personal care, drug and groceries also slid around 0.6% and 1.7%, respectively, highlighting the breadth of the market retreat

• Oil prices slipped on Friday, weighing on energy stocks, which ended down 1.6% [O/R]

• Separately, Lloyds said British house prices fell at the fastest annual pace in a year in October as higher mortgage costs weighed on demand

• Man Group was the biggest faller on the FTSE 250 with a 7.6% drop after Kuwait's public pension fund on Thursday won a lawsuit against the asset manager

(Reporting by Darshan Kumar, Purvi Agarwal and Anand Gopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Xevi Fontdegloria)