FTSE 100 Reaches Lowest Level Since November

The FTSE 100 index again headed south, below the 4,000 point mark on Friday morning and by lunchtime was down 94 points or 2.3% at 3,924.52 points.

Michael Parker
shareprices.com - Friday, February 20, 2009

Printable version email to a friend Subscribe to shareprices.com newsfeed

The latest losses followed the only positive close of the week on Thursday and took the index to its lowest level of the year so far, and its lowest level since November.

Mining company Anglo American was the biggest single faller, down just over 12% on the announcement that the company has cancelled its final dividend and is planning to cut 9,000 jobs after pre-tax profits fell by 1.1%. Share prices in Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and Xstrata also fell by more than 7% as the mining sector as a whole experienced broad falls. Rio Tinto for its part was reported to be considering abandoning its plan to raise $19.5 billion from China's state-owned investment management company, Chinalco ("Aluminium Corporation of China") in the face of investor hostility. Directors of Rio Tinto are in consultation with the company's leading shareholders in the United Kingdom to determine the level of support for the plan.

Banking shares too were under pressure reflecting falls in financial stocks on Wall Street. Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland for example, who were amongst the major gainers on Thursday, fell back by 5.6% and 4.1% respectively. There was some respite for the insurance sector, however, with Prudential 9.5% higher on the announcement of a 5% rise in annual sales and plans to sell Taiwanese operations to China Life for $64 million.

 

Latest News

Related News

FTSE 100 Latest

ValueChange
5,875.9314.33  % fall