People walk through the lobby of the London Stock Exchange in London, Britain November 30, 2015. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett
LONDON: Britain’s top share index fell to its lowest closing level in more than three years on Monday, with miners down on lingering concerns about metals demand and UK banks mirroring losses seen by Italian financials.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 equity index finished 0.4% lower at 5,779.92 points, its lowest closing level since late 2012. The UK mining index fell 0.4%, while the banking index was down 1.4%.
“UK banks have pulled the index down on account of heavy losses seen by their Italian counterparts. Markets are still in a downtrend because of worries about China and no improvement in the supply-demand dynamics of the oil market,” Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said.
Banks featured among the top decliners, with Standard Chartered, Barclays and HSBC falling 1.2% to 2.2%, after losses in Italian banks.
Italy’s top banks have fallen about 16% this year, with investors getting nervous about how the sector will cope with lower interest rates and a 200 billion euro (RM961bil) pile of loans that are unlikely to be repaid.
The FTSE 100 index has slipped more than 7% since the start of the year after dropping nearly 5% in 2015.
Growing concerns about the pace of economic growth in China, the world’s biggest metals consumer, and falling commodity prices have hit investors’ sentiment.
“The year has got off to a miserable start and many investors will be looking to trim their positions in order to protect profits, leading to an unpleasant feedback loop that could see last week’s break of key support militate into something far more negative,” IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said.
Pharmaceutical company Shire rose 1.7% after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded it to “outperform” from “neutral”, while satellite communications company Inmarsat was up 0.8% following a target price increase from HSBC. - Reuters
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