Headline shares moved sharply lower in midday trade, investors cautious as the inter-party political wrangling continues in London, with banks and miners leading the main index down. At high noon, the FTSE100 was down 96.97 points at 5,290.45 with the FTSE250 off 146.59 points at 9,858.21 and the FTSE Smallcaps 23.9 points lower at 2,861.95.
US stock futures moved lower on concerns the EU financing plan may not be as effective as previously envisaged. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 101 points, S&P500 futures slid 12.7 points at 1,143 and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 20.25 points to 1,919.2.
LONDON MARKETS
The euphoria of the previous session quickly dissipated today as European debt concerns resurfaced and China demand worries hit metals prices. With no immediate prospect of a party coalition being announced in London, investors were understandably cautious, shrugging aside much-better-than-expected UK manufacturing data.
Financial and commodity issues bore the brunt of the dip in sentiment early on, with Xstrata Plc (LON:XTA) the biggest blue chip faller, down 72.5p at 1,019.5p, as it added to the list of companies mothballing expansion plans in the wake of the Australian supertax threat. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) fell 154.5p at 3,213p and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) lost 64.5p at 1,918.5p. On the upside with mining stocks, Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) surged 145p at 5,725p as gold jumped to $1,218 an ounce.
Royal Bank Of Scotland Group Plc (LON:RBS) was the worst of the banks, down 2.5p at 49.25p, hit by news it has agreed to pay $500m to settle conspiracy charges in the US. Barclays (LON:BARC) gave back 12.9p at 316.7p, Lloyds eased 1.87p at 59.13p and HSBC fell 18.8p at 652.8p.
Amongst insurers, Aviva (LON:AV.) moved 7.4p lower at 331.6p, despite reporting a second successive quarter of life and pensions sales growth. Prudential (LON:PRU) slipped 13p at 541p on ongoing concerns over its Asia expansion plans. Fund managers were also weaker as worries over EU legislation refused to go away, with Schroders (LON:SDR) falling 23p at 1,384p and Man Group (LON:EMG) down 6.6p at 221.6p.
Oil producer BP (LON:BP.) eased 3.4p at 545.8p as it continues to seek a resolution to the US oil spillage problems and ahead of its appearance before the US senate. Shell fell 10.5p at 1,805.5p and BG Group (LON:BG.) dropped 22.5p…
