Bad news sends Footsie tumbling again
A rash of bad news and job cuts is hitting sentiment in the City, with the Footsie 100 index down 72.3 points after an hour's trading to stand at 5043.7.
Shares in Rolls-Royce initially rose, but then fell 2% or 2¼p to 132p, after it announced 5,000 job losses and warned of difficult market conditions for the next two years.
British Airways is off 8½p at 137p; while aerospace and defence group BAE Systems is down 6p at 321½p.
The London market is also digesting Boeing's announcement that it will have to reduce aircraft output in the wake of the drop in demand following the US terror attacks.
Oil firms are weighing heavily on the London Stock Exchange, with BP down 25p at 544p; Shell off 17½p at 506½p; and Enterprise Oil 15½p lower at 509½p.
Banks are also slipping, with HSBC off 14p at 739p; Barclays 45p lower at £20.30; and Royal Bank of Scotland off 30p at £16.48.
Pharmaceutical group Bioglan Pharma has seen its share price fall by 78% or 59½p to 17p after it emerged that its planned £527m acquisition of Bristol-Myers Squibb's skincare division had collapsed. Bioglan is also cutting more than 100 jobs.
Food group S Daniels is adding to the gloom, falling by 27% or 3¼p to 8¾p, after warning it had been hit by a slump in orders to hotels, airlines and airports in the last month. It also cautioned that the outlook for the rest of this year was 'uncertain'.
