Markets: Fresh eurozone fears drag FTSE down

Glasgow’s Weir Group was one of the biggest fallers on a day in which corporate news and eurozone fears dragged the FTSE 100 index to new lows for 2012.

Britain’s leading shares index rebounded from deeper loses to close 24.5 points lower at 5,530.1 as traders began to be tempted by the price of blue chip shares.

Will Hedden, sales trader at IG Index, said: “After continued selling throughout the morning, a number of bargain hunters popped their heads above the parapet and the FTSE staged a mini rally after 3.30pm.”

Weir was down 5.1 per cent or 82p at 1,514p after it confirmed a plunge in orders for its fracking pumps, though some analysts said its sell-off is unwarranted.

Financial stocks were hit by Spanish plans to reform its banks and continuing uncertainty over Greece, with Royal Bank of Scotland down 0.8p at 22.6p and Lloyds Banking Group off 1.1p to 29.9p.

Broadcaster ITV was one of the biggest risers after posting strong first-quarter figures and saying the Euro 2012 football championships meant advertising revenues for next month were likely to be up by as much as 17 per cent. Shares were 1.75p higher at 82.5p.

Sainsbury’s was not far behind as the UK’s third-largest supermarket chain delivered a better-than-expected rise in annual profits and signalled it was ready to scale back expansion in order to boost shareholder returns.

Profits increased 7.1 per cent to £712 million in the year to 17 March, beating City forecasts for a 5 per cent rise. The stock lifted 4p to 305.3p.

Aberdeen Asset Management was one of a number of top-flight firms to go ex-dividend, which also weighed on the Footsie. Aberdeen’s shares were 10.3p lower at 259.2p.

New York: Wall Street fell last night for the fifth straigh session as investors kept Europe’s recent turmoil in focus, but news that Greece will get its latest bailout pay-ment helped cut losses late in the day.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 96.88 points, or 0.75 per cent, to end at 12,835.21 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 9.14 points, or 0.67 per cent, to finish at 1,354.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 11.56 points, or 0.39 per cent, to close at 2,934.71.