London market suffers single-session fall

THE London market suffered its biggest single-session fall in almost two months yesterday amid fears that a return to economic growth will force central banks to cut their stimulus programmes.

Better-than-expected retail sales figures in the UK and further evidence that the US is on the mend meant, perversely, that the FTSE 100 index closed 104.09 points, or 1.6 per cent, lower at 6,483.34.

US weekly jobless claims came in at 320,000, better than economists had forecast.

As the Fed has linked the tapering down of its money-printing programme to the jobless rate, the figures brought speculation that it might cut stimulus as early as next month.