LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Falls By The Most In 5 Weeks Led By Banks
24 Februar 2017 - 04:44PM
Dow Jones News
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
U.K. stocks dropped by the most in five weeks Friday and veered
toward a weekly loss, with shares of Royal Bank of Scotland Group
PLC and Standard Chartered PLC yanked down after downbeat financial
updates.
The FTSE 100 dropped 0.7% to 7,220.24, looking at its largest
percentage fall since Jan. 17, according to FactSet data. The
London benchmark on Thursday shed 0.4%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-slips-as-miners-pull-back-but-barclays-pushes-higher-2017-02-23).
This sets up the blue-chip index to lose 1% for the week, which
would break its three-week run of wins.
A selloff in British shares accelerated alongside equity losses
across Europe (), where a rise in the euro against the U.S. dollar
was fed by growing doubts about quick passage of tax-cut and reform
plans being pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Read: Doubts persist about Trump's tax timing
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/doubts-persist-about-tax-timing-as-trump-meets-with-ceos-2017-02-23)
The "comments from the US Treasury Secretary [were] tempering
any hope markets had of an immediate economic benefit of Trump's
proposed policies," leading to drop in the dollar against major
rivals, said Joshua Mahony, IG market analyst, in a note.
"Overall, it has been a week of false starts for the FTSE," as a
"resurgent pound is proving to be a hindrance for any further
upside in the FTSE," Mahony said.
The pound was up roughly 0.7% against the greenback this week.
Sterling on Friday eased a bit, buying $1.2505 compared with
$1.2544 late Thursday in New York.
Banks: RBS shares (RBS.LN) (RBS.LN) dropped 5.1%. The sharpest
slide since August was spurred after the 70% state-owned bank said
its annual net loss more than tripled to 6.96 billion pounds
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rbs-loss-slumps-to-87-billion-on-conduct-charges-2017-02-24)
($8.73 billion), after it put aside billions of pounds to cover
conduct issues.
Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN) was pushed down 3.7%, losing
the most since late November as the Asia-focused lender's narrower
2016 net loss of $478 million
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/standard-chartereds-loss-narrows-2017-02-24-84852752)
missed analyst expectations.
Other bank stocks moved lower, with Lloyds Banking Group PLC
shares (LLOY.LN) (LLOY.LN) off 1% and HSBC (HSBA.LN) (HSBA.LN)
(HSBA.LN) down 0.5%.
Barclays PLC (BCS) (BCS) shares fell 1.7%. The stock on Thursday
dropped 2.6%, hurt by concerns about litigation in the U.S., after
initially rising after the bank said it had swung to a full-year
net profit
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/barclays-swings-to-profit-as-overhaul-nears-end-2017-02-23-94855424).
Other movers: British Airways parent International Consolidated
Airlines PLC (IAG.LN) climbed 2.2% after the airline group posted a
29% rise in net profit and announced a EUR500 million share buyback
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/iag-profit-rises-29-to-launch-share-buyback-2017-02-24)
($529.7 million), in a sign of improving profitability.
Pearson PLC shares (PSON.LN) were up 3%, but they had dropped
earlier in the session after the educational publishing company
reported a 2016 net loss of GBP2.56 billion
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rbs-loss-slumps-to-87-billion-on-conduct-charges-2017-02-24),
hit by declines in the U.K. and U.S. education markets.
Shares of Standard Life PLC (SL.LN) also staged a U-turn,
falling 2.2%. They had been driven higher early Friday after the
investment, pension and savings services provider raised its
dividend payment for 2016 by 8%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/standard-life-dividend-up-8-as-earnings-rise-2017-02-24)
following a rise in earnings.
Read: Conservative victory in northern England could spell doom
for Labour leader Corbyn
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/conservative-victory-in-northern-england-could-spell-doom-for-labours-corbyn-2017-02-23)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 24, 2017 10:29 ET (15:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
FTSE 100
Index Chart
Von Feb 2024 bis Mär 2024
FTSE 100
Index Chart
Von Mär 2023 bis Mär 2024