Headline shares slumped to heavy losses in afternoon trade as Wall Street opened sharply lower, adding ongoing concerns brought on by Germany's decision to ban some short-selling. At the close of play, the FTSE100 was down 84.95 points at 5,073.13 with the FTSE250 off 237.03 points at 9,433.59 and the FTSE Smallcaps 52.55 points lower at 2,752.93. US stock were sharply lower after mixed economic data and worse-than-expected jobs data, with investor's taking heed of further falls in Europe. Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 228 points at 10,217, the S&P500 lost 25 points at 1,090 and the Nasdaq Composite shed 61 points at 2,237.
LONDON MARKETS
Confidence ebbed in equity markets in London today, exacerbated by heavy falls in New York this afternoon after disappointing economic and jobs data. Oil majors BP (LON:BP.) and Shell helped save the main index from a clean sweep of red, up 5.3p at 528.8p and 1.5p at 1,762p, respectively. Telecoms giant BT Group (LON:BT.A) also showed a modest gain, up 0.6p at 126.6p, while Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) edged up 0.15p at 75.4p and hedge fund manager Man Group (LON:EMG) inched ahead 0.1p at 215.4p. Elsewhere, the FTSE100 was in negative territory.
Mining shares tumbled as metals prices eased and as fears grew of a spread of the Australian supertax to other areas, with Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) down 172.5p at 2,812p and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) off 59.5p at 1,768.5p.
British Airways (LON:BAY) dived 4.37p at 186.5p on news the Unite union won its appeal against the High Court ruling banning its proposed strike action. Strike action by cabin crew will commence next week unless a remedy is found quickly. Power provider National Grid (LON:NG.) was the biggest faller of the day after announcing a rights issue to raise £3.2bn to fund an increase in capital investment alongside full-year results that showed strong growth. The shares slumped 43.5p to 576.5p in response. Scottish & Southern Energy (LON:SSE)& slipped 33p at 1,040p in sympathy.
Global brewer Sabmiller (LON:SAB) was another major casualty, off 123p at 1,912p, after full-year profits missed analyst forecasts. Retailers were under pressure after news of slowing sales growth, an on fears of an imminent hike in VAT. Homebase and Argos owner Home Retail Group…
FWIW tommorow morning will offer a good opportunity to buy some cheap stock early morning. I am expecting early lows as some panic sell followed by a rally later in the day once the buying outweighs the sales.
The EUR has bounced strongly the last two days....equity markets need to catch up. I am expecting another rally in the markets, perhaps as close as 11,000 on the Dow.
Nice to see the Dow selling of more into the close...I'll be buying in the morning whatever I think is cheaper then today.
