Luxury Goods Stocks Slide While Aston Martin Shines Amid Mixed Earnings

UK shares saw a decline on Wednesday due to weakness in luxury goods stocks and disappointing U.S. tech earnings. While the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 dropped, Aston Martin surged after its half-year earnings update. Investors reacted to quarterly earnings from major U.S. companies and anticipated the upcoming U.S. inflation data.

UK shares ended lower on Wednesday, weighed down by weakness in luxury goods stocks and disappointing U.S. tech earnings. Although the FTSE 100 index dipped 0.2% and the mid-cap FTSE 250 shed 0.7%, luxury carmaker Aston Martin surged following its half-year earnings update.

Quarterly earnings from U.S. tech giants Alphabet and Tesla fell short of expectations, further dampening global risk appetite. In the UK market, luxury group Burberry slipped 2% after LVMH, the world's largest luxury firm, reported a slowdown in sales growth for the second quarter.

Investment analyst Dan Coatsworth from AJ Bell remarked, 'Weak results from LVMH and Remy Cointreau suggest the malaise in the luxury goods sector is yet to abate, adding pressure on battered British fashion brand Burberry.' Amid this, precious metal miners saw a rebound with a 3% rise as gold prices firmed.

In other stock movements, easyJet climbed 3% after announcing a 16% rise in third-quarter pretax profit, and Ascential soared 25.7% after Informa agreed to acquire the Cannes Lions Festival owner for £1.2 billion ($1.55 billion). Investors are now turning their attention to U.S. inflation data due Friday, which could influence the Federal Reserve's upcoming interest rate decisions.

(With inputs from agencies.)