UK Mid-caps lead blue chips: the FTSE 100 Index underperformed many of its major global counterparts during August. The blue-chip index’s performance was dampened partly by weakness in commodity-related and banking sectors, and by its low exposure to technology- and AI-related companies, while rising bond yields reduced the appeal of some of the major dividend payers. During August, the FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4%. In contrast, the more domestically focused FTSE 250 Index hit