Anglo American weighs (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - London, 01 Jul - UK shares closed flat as investors look ahead to Britain's general election - scheduled for Thursday - which looks set to end 14 years in power for the Conservative Party as opinion polls give a large lead to Keir Starmer's opposition Labour Party over prime minister Rishi Sunak's Tories.

Investors also assessed the outcome of the first round of the legislative elections in France which saw Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National) party score historic gains but projections suggest that no one party has won an outright majority of at least 289 seats, pointing to a hung parliament.

Weighing on sentiment, in June, the UK's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector fell to 50.9 from May's 22-month high of 51.1 and was below the preliminary estimate of 51.4.

Among individual stocks, Anglo American lost 2.76% at 2,433.00 pence after the company said it was forced to suspend production at its coal mine in Queensland.

The London FTSE 100 closed up 0.03% at 8,166.76 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 01-07-24 18:29:40 (0578) 5 NNNN