Investors suffer as gloomy news effects confidence

INVESTORS suffered another poor session on the London market yesterday as gloomy corporate news and US economic data hit confidence.

The FTSE 100 Index was on the back foot all day and closed down 64.7 points at 4209.3. The falls came on top of heavy losses on Wednesday.

Insurers were among the main fallers yesterday while drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline fell on renewed fears about increased competition.

And Wall Street failed to provide any inspiration, with the Dow Jones losing ground after an unexpected rise in US jobless figures.

The Footsie has now lost 4% of its value so far this week but is still some 430 points above the lows seen last month.

Martin Dobson, head trader at NatWest Stockbrokers, said investors were moving to the sidelines ahead of the Labor Day holiday in the US.

He added: “It’s really quiet with a lot of people closing positions ahead of the US break (next Monday).”

A host of blue-chip insurers fell back after European rivals blamed falling stock markets for lower earnings and Prudential dropped 26p to 508p.

Friends Provident also suffered, falling 8p to 144p, Royal & Sun Alliance dipped 4p to 120p and Aviva fell 13p to 495p.

Elsewhere GlaxoSmithKline dropped almost 3%, or 33p to £12.32, as Swiss rival Novartis bought a Slovenian firm making generic rivals to a GSK drug.