FTSE Starts March By Falling To SIx-Year Low Led By HSBC
The FTSE 100 has begun March like a lamb rather than a lion, falling more than 4% to a six year low.
London’s decline mirrored the performance in Asia after Japan’s Nikkei registered a drop of almost 4% overnight,
Market heavyweight HSBC led the way tumbling 23% – or 112p to 379p – after it scrapped its final dividend, announced a 62% fall in profits and confirmed plans to raise £12.5 billion from shareholders.
Among other banking stocks, Royal Bank of Scotland was down 5% while Standard Chartered, which shares HSBC’s focus on Asian markets, was down 10%, Lloyds was also down 10%, and Barclays 7% lower.
FTSE100 Posts Second Worst Weekly Loss Ever
Britain's top share index ended 8.9 percent lower Friday contributing to a 24 percent slump for the week, the second biggest weekly fall ever, as investors ran scared from the spectre of a full global recession.
The FTSE 100 closed down 381.7 points at 3,932.1, its second biggest points loss ever, dropping below the 4,000 level for the first time in more than five years after its worst week since the crash of October 1987.
With another 90 billion pounds wiped off the FTSE 100's value Friday, there was just one gainer -- news and information provider Thomson Reuters, up a penny.
"The FTSE 100 went below 4,000 today, a level it first achieved in September 1996, that means if you invested in equities 12 years ago, you've seen no gain, which is unbelievable," said one trader.
Banks were the top-weighted losers, with the FTSE 350 banks index shedding more than 11.5 percent.
Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC down 5.2 percent, while 3i Group shed 16.2 percent, and insurers Legal & General and Prudential lost 16.1 and 10.5 percent respectively.
Financials also headed another slide on Wall Street which sent the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index below the 900 level for the first time in five years on fears tighter credit would spawn world recession.
President George W. Bush said on Friday the U.S. government was moving aggressively to address the financial markets crisis, but he acknowledged that anxiety was feeding on itself as stocks continued to plunge.
FTSE Leaps On US Bailout Hopes
The FTSE100 stood 7.8 percent higher at 10.45am Lodon time on Friday to snap a four-day losing run, led by banks on hopes of a comprehensive U.S. plan to end the turmoil that is engulfing financial markets.
A ban by financial regulators on short-selling of some financial stocks also boosted the market.
At 10.45am the index stood 382.8 points higher at 5262.8, recovering much of the 9.9 percent losses in the previous four sessions.
Banks led the way higher with RBS +43%, HBOS +39%, B&B +37%, Lloyds TSB +35% and Barclays +32%.
Wall Street had its biggest percentage gain in six years on Thursday after the Treasury and Fed said they were working on a plan to deal with the billions of dollars of bad debt still clogging the financial system.
