Stocks closed lower on Tuesday following Ashtead’s plan to switch its primary listing to Wall Street, adding to the drift of London-listed firms across the Atlantic.

Ashtead Group plunged 14.03% as the company also downgraded its full-year rental revenue growth forecast to between 3% and 5%, citing weaker US construction market dynamics.

“Equipment rental giant Ashtead is packing its bags and heading stateside, dealing another blow to UK markets,” said Hargreaves Lansdown senior equity analyst Matt Britzman.

The announcement helped drag the FTSE 100 index down 0.86% to close at 8,280.36 points

Passenger transport operator FirstGroup, which has unveiled its refreshed branding, surged 6.5% after announcing its entry into the London bus market through the £90m acquisition of RATP Dev Transit London, a move expected to diversify its market presence.

Greeting cards and gifting specialist Moonpig Group sank 14.57%, reporting a swing to a pre-tax loss for the first half, partly due to “challenging” trading in its experiences segment.

Miners Antofagasta and Glencore declined 3.47% and 2.8%, respectively, as copper prices fell following underwhelming Chinese trade data.

UK grocery spending is on track for a record-breaking December, with supermarket sales projected to exceed £13bn for the first time according to Kantar.

Over the four weeks to 1 December, spending rose 2.5%, driven by strong demand for festive items and premium products.

Tesco rose 1.04% after the Kantar data showed its highest market share since 2017, reaching 28.1%. J Sainsbury gained 1.56% on its own market share improvements.

Broker activity also influenced movement – British Land climbed 1.2% on an upgrade to ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs, while Unite Group edged up 0.6% following a JPMorgan upgrade to ‘overweight.’

In currency markets, sterling was last up 0.01% on the dollar to trade at $1.2751, while it advanced 0.45% against the euro to €1.2135.

In the US, the Dow Jones fell 0.4%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also reversed earlier gains, ending the session 0.3% lower.

Business confidence in Scotland has fallen to its lowest in 23-months amid worries over inflation and orders, research has found.

The Royal Bank of Scotland’s monthly growth tracker found optimism in November dropped as companies expressed concerns about future output levels. The headline activity index was 51.1 with more than 50 companies indicating expansion.

There was a solid performance from service sector firms while manufacturers recorded a contraction in their performance.

Judith Cruickshank, who chairsthe the Scotland board at RBS, pointed to “a notable intensification of price pressures” which could be a headwind for growth ambitions.