FTSE 100 ends lower
Wednesday 20th May 2009, 5:34PM BST.
Retailers and Lloyds Banking dragged the FTSE 100 down during the afternoon and the index closed 13.84 points lower at 4,468.41.
After the qualifying period for investors wishing to take advantage of Lloyds’ rights issue ended yesterday, shares in the bank fell 7.95 per cent to 70.5p.
Retailers were also suffering after Marks & Spencer cut its dividends and reported a profit fall on Tuesday.
Shares in Marks & Spencer fell by 5.69 per cent over the session to 294p, closely followed by a 4.84 per cent drop in Sainsbury shares and a 4.27 per cent dip in Home Retail Group.
Supporting the UK’s leading share index were mining stocks, as oil and precious metals advanced.
Lonmin was up by 8.11 per cent, Vedanta Resources jumped by 7.02 per cent and silver miner Fresnillo rose by 5.77 per cent.
Over in the US, a successful share offering from Bank of America helped improve sentiment and the Dow Jones was up by 1.2 per cent in early trading, while the S&P 500 jumped 1.6 per cent.
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