Markets: Spanish worries weigh on the Footsie

By DOMINIC JEFF
Published on 18/09/2012 23:58

FINANCIAL stocks led the London market lower yesterday as traders worried about Spain’s reluctance to seek outside help with its banking crisis.

Michael Hewson, senior analyst at CMC Markets, said: “Europe’s markets continue to weaken on the back of continued uncertainty as to whether Spain will ask for a sovereign bailout. It would appear that the drop in yields has encouraged Spanish politicians to try and tough it out, but the numbers aren’t good.”

Royal Bank of Scotland’s recent improvement continued to fade as the group fell for a second successive session, off 7.3p to 267.1p. Lloyds Banking Group was down 2 per cent, or 1p to 38.9p. And Standard Chartered was lower despite a flurry of positive broker notes after it held an investor event. Its shares were down 32.5p to 1,481.5p.

Insurer Aviva was the biggest top-flight faller, down 14.3p to 344.9p, after Bank of America Merrill Lynch said the shares looked to have run their course following a decent performance since July. Rival Prudential felt its pain, down 19.5p to 821.5p.

Engineer GKN also hit the wall, sliding 3.6 per cent at 228.3p after European new car sales slumped in August.

But shares in Scotland’s biggest distiller, Diageo, were given a lift after Morgan Stanley named the drinks giant as one of the four “European staples” to own over the next six months. It added 2 per cent at 1,718p.

NEW YORK: Wall Street ended flat on last night after bellwether FedEx cut its profit forecast and investors pulled back after last week’s rally on the US central bank’s latest stimulus plan.

The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 11.69 points, or 0.09 per cent, to end at 13,564.79 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 1.87 points, or 0.13 percent, to finish at 1,459.32.