12th Nov 2014 07:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares are set to open lower Wednesday, with banks in focus after regulators in the US, UK and Switzerland Wednesday hit five banks with more than USD3.2 billion in fines over foreign exchange failings and attempted manipulation of foreign exchange benchmark rates.
Futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open 11 points lower at 6,618.6, with the Bank of England's Inflation Report expected to dominate sentiment later in the trading day. The index closed Tuesday at 6,627.4, its fifth straight day of gains.
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority imposed fines amounting to USD1.7 billion on the five banks, including HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, saying the banks failed to control business practices in their G10 spot foreign exchange trading operations, while the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered the banks to pay more than USD1.4 billion in penalties.
Germany's DAX closed up 0.2% while the CAC 40 finished down 0.5% in quiet trade on Armistice Day.
US trading finished mixed. The DJIA held closed flat on the day, the S&P 500 ended up 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.2%.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei closed up 0.4% Wednesday, its highest level in eight years. The Hang Seng is 0.4% higher and the Shanghai Composite is up 0.6%.
By Ian Edmondson; [email protected]
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