FTSE 100 back below 4,500 mark
Tuesday 2nd June 2009, 5:18PM BST.
The FTSE 100 closed 29.17 points down to 4,477.02 after an earlier sell-off prompted by news a Middle Eastern investor had dumped over a billion shares in Barclays.
Barclays ended the session down 13.52 per cent after a surprise announcement that key Gulf investor IPIC had sold 1.3 billion shares in the bank.
Several other banks were also trading lower on the index as the news hit the wider banking sector and investors took advantage of yesterday’s surge to take profits.
Royal Bank of Scotland shares fell by 4.98 per cent, while Lloyds Banking Group was down by 4.14 per cent and HSBC dropped by 2.72 per cent.
Anthony Grech, market strategist for IG Index, said: “The UK market as a whole has seemed a little lethargic over the last few weeks – even in the face of ongoing US strength – and at the moment it’s difficult to get too excited either way about the FTSE 100 from here.
“We may have to wait until this Friday’s US unemployment numbers are announced before we have any clues as to which way the market is going to head next.”
Risers on the blue-chip index include retailers Kingfisher, up 3.75 per cent, and Home Retail Group, up 2.89 per cent, on strong sales over a sunny weekend.
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