Headline shares finished the day down but pulled back considerably from mid afternoon lows, after a day dominated by fears over the Euro debt and stricter regulations in the US on financial institutions. At the close, the FTSE 100 was down 10.2 points after staging somewhat of a recovery from mid afternoon lows of below 5000, to finish at 5062.93. Over in the US, the Dow was down a relatively modest 17.61 points at 10,050.4 at time of writing.
LONDON MARKETS
Those shares finishing the day lower included BP (LON:BP.), down 4.18% at 506.7p, Smith & Nephew (LON:SN.), down 3.68% at 614.5p, Sabmiller (LON:SAB), down 3.66% at 1842p and Shire (LON:SHP) down 3.33% at 1337p. Those few on the positive side included Xstrata Plc (LON:XTA), up 4.27% at 931.3p, Fresnillo (LON:FRES), up 3.01% at 839.5p, Vedanta, up 2.08% at 2163p and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) up 1.93% at 843p.
UK share prices fell back by early afternoon with the FTSE 100 index below 5,000 at one point - the first time for nearly 18 months. At this point the Index was standing at 4978.07, just over 95 points lower and nearly 1.9% down since the market open. This followed on from the sharp drop in Wall Street share prices last night where the Dow Jones finished the day 376 points down at 10,068.01. Over in Germany, the Lower House of parliament agreed to allow the country to make the largest contribution to the 750 billion Euro package to help the ailing currency, this however did little to ease market fears.
Banking stocks were amongst the biggest losers during the session as Eurozone debts again weighed heavy on the markets, and news from yesterday that the US senate had agreed to President Obamas Wall Street reform bill and new regulations. Miners however were bucking the trend this afternoon as one of few sectors actually gaining during the session.
British Airways (LON:BAY) woes continue as the strike-bound airline has posted a record loss before tax of £531m for the year to 31 March 2010 ( 2009 Loss £401m). Revenue was down £1 billion to £7,994m (2009: £8,992m) and although fuel costs were £597m lower and other operating costs were down £390m, this was a second consecutive year of record losses.
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