FTSE 100 down 0.3, FTSE 250 flat
Hargreaves Lansdown surges after rejecting 5.94 billion takeover deal
National Grid to raise 8.9 billion via rights issue, shares slump

May 23 Reuters London39;s FTSE 100 continued its slide for a third day on Thursday, as Britain began preparations for a general election on July 4 and data showed growth across businesses noticeably slowed in May.

The bluechip FTSE 100 index slid 0.3 while the pound strengthened against the dollar at 1.2738. The midcap FTSE 250 was flat.

An upbeat quarterly earnings report by Nvidia was offset by the surprise call for a general election by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that spooked investors, prompting a strategic shuffle as they weighed the ramifications of the potential scenarios.

This pushed the utilities shares to the bottom of the sectoral charts, while defensive stocks such as Unilever, BAE Systems and GSK gained.

There39;s an element of caution and there tends to be a kneejerk reaction and if you were concerned as an investor about the prospect of a Labour government, you may come out of some positions and start to derisk, said Christopher Peters, trading floor manager at Accendo Markets.

Among stocks, National Grid was the top loser on the benchmark index with a 8.6 drop, after it said it would raise about 7 billion pounds 8.90 billion via a rights issue.

Wizz Air jumped 4.2 after the European lowcost airline forecast a higher annual profit.

Qinetiq soared 13.4 after the defence group…