FTSE drained by Spain and greece woes
THE FTSE 100 tracked losses across Europe this morning as fast moving events in Greece and Spain drained investor confidence.
Moody’s downgraded Spanish banks overnight and Fitch cut its debt rating for Greece as the Eurozone crisis deepened.
Spain has lurched into recession and its borrowing costs jumped at an auction yesterday while its banks have seen their shares dive. Meanwhile Greece is mired in political and economic chaos with the country running out of money fast as fresh elections loom.
Spain’s main share index dropped two per cent after opening, although lender Bankia steadied after steep losses yesterday.
London’s blue chip index dropped with a mix of sectors being dented by the uncertainty casting a shadow over markets.
Building services company Wolseley was the biggest faller, down three per cent.
Engineer Rolls-Royce dipped by 2.3 per cent and credit expert Experian 2.2 per cent.
Vedanta, down 2.2 per cent, was the biggest faller among miners. Anglo American was down 0.7 per cent. BHP Billiton was down 0.7 per cent.
Luxury retailer Burberry was down 2.2 per cent.
In banking Lloyds slipped 0.7 per cent, Barclays 0.1 per cent and RBS 1.4 per cent.
There were few significant riseRS on the index with miner Antofagasta the highest climber, up 1.2 per cent. The lift came after it reported solid figures yesterday helped by a rise in copper production and higher gold prices.
National Grid edged up by 0.5 per cent, having announced a profits rise while BT Group nudged up by almost one per cent.
On the FTSE All-share the London Stock Exchange rose four per cent after reporting a profit increase of 30 per cent – fuelled by acquisitions.
Across the Atlantic later today investors will be eyeing the Wall Street debut of Facebook which raised £10bn in a float.
Meanwhile Asian markets were dragged down by the Eurozone blight with Nikkei closing down by 2.9 per cent and the Hang Seng 1.3 per cent.