A sea of red at London markets
The London market was a sea of red today as investors took the chance to secure profits after a recent strong run.
Sentiment was impacted by the absence of trading in the United States, following the Thanksgiving holiday, and the lack of major corporate news.
Amid light trading volumes, the FTSE 100 Index stood 59.1 points lower at 6080.9 at mid-morning. Other European markets were also in negative territory.
David Buik, of Cantor Index, said: “There is no influence from the US and therefore a classic opportunity for traders to give the market a decent shove. This is an orchestrated correction in a market that is recording thin volumes.”
Banks were among the biggest casualties after a review of the banking sector by Morgan Stanley.
Amid concern about bad debts in unsecured lending, the investment bank cut its target prices for Barclays and Lloyds TSB – causing shares in the pair to fall by 11.5p to 698p and 9.5p to 552p respectively.
Others in the sector under pressure included HBOS, which dipped 14p to 1055p, while HSBC was 8.5p lower at 967.5p.
Bradford & Bingley was the only stock to escape the sell off, hitting the top of a shortened risers board with a gain of 3p to 463p.
B&Q owner Kingfisher was another heavy faller as investors braced themselves for a trading update from the retailer next week. Shares were off 4.25p to 252.25p, a drop of almost 2%.
Among smaller stocks, car manual publisher Haynes fell 2.5p to 332.5p, as it said it would take a £500,000 (€738,000) hit from closing its operation in France.
And Clean Air Power fell 5.5p to 77.5p after it warned that annual profits would be lower than expected because of slow sales in the UK. It is a specialist in low-emission diesel engines for the haulage industry.
