FTSE down amid euro nerves

The top share index in the UK fell further on Thursday as fears over the outcome of the crucial euro summit dominated the market. By the end of the session, the FTSE 100 was lower by 1.1 per cent, shedding more than 63 points to close at 5483.

Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Friday, December 09, 2011

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With the blue chips at its lowest point since the end of November, experts said that investors were covering their options as they waited to find out what had been agreed in Brussels. But despite the optimism leading up to the summit, hopes of a debt solution are slowly being crushed as it is emerging that there are some fundamental differences between what some of the key countries are prepared to agree to. Also impacting on sentiment was the ECB's denial that it would be taking part in a sovereign bond buying with the President saying he was 'kind of surprised' that his words had been interpreted to mean that.

The market showed a swing towards more defensive assets with riskier stocks unwanted. The top riser of the day was British American Tobacco which climbed by 1.5 per cent whilst its sector peer Imperial Tobacco was also higher, up by 0.7 per cent. GlaxoSmithKline was another defensive stock chased by investors, climbing 0.8 per cent.

At the opposite end of the leaderboard, banks and commodities were the major casualties. Lloyds Banking Group was the heaviest faller of the day, shedding 7.40 per cent whilst Essar Energy was in second place with a loss of 6.45 per cent. Rio Tinto was the worst performing miner with a drop of 3.52 per cent.

 

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