LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Ends Lower For 2nd Day As Banks Slide
24 Februar 2017 - 06:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
U.K. stocks dropped for a second day on Friday and ended with 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 lost 0.4% to close at 7,243.70, extending its
weekly loss to 0.8%. That broke the benchmark's 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. In recent
comments to The Wall Street Journal and CNBC, Treasury Secretary
Steven Mnuchin said it's the administration's goal to have Congress
complete work on tax reform by August.
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 U.S. 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 0.6% against the greenback this week.
Sterling on Friday eased a bit, buying $1.2492 compared with
$1.2544 late Thursday in New York.
Banks: RBS shares (RBS.LN) (RBS.LN) dropped 4.5%. The sharpest
slide since November 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 2.7% 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 0.4% and HSBC (HSBA.LN) (HSBA.LN)
(HSBA.LN) down 0.4%.
Barclays PLC (BCS) (BCS) shares fell 1.4%. 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)(IAG.LN) climbed 4.5% 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) closed up 1.7%, 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 1.5%. 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 12:16 ET (17:16 GMT)
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