April 20 Reuters Londons FTSE 100 fell on Tuesday, dragged down by stocks of heavyweight banking and cigarette makers, while Associated British Foods slipped after a downbeat firsthalf earnings update.

The bluechip index slipped 0.3, with tobacco firms British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands declining 6 and 3.4 to the bottom of index after a media report said the U.S. is considering a rule to cut nicotine in all cigarettes sold in the United States to levels at which they are no longer addictive.

The Primarkowners shares fell 3 after it posted a 50 drop in firsthalf profit, hurt by COVID19 lockdowns that shuttered its Primark fashion stores..

The domestically focussed midcap FTSE 250 index inched 0.03 higher. Chemical company Elementis Plc surged 16.6 after a media report it has got a fresh takeover bid from U.S.based Innospec Inc that values it at over 1 billion pounds

1.40 billion.

1 0.7143 pounds

Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V

Source Reuters