Pound weighs heavily on Ftse

The UK’s top share index fell yesterday, depressed by a slide in oil stocks among others. The Ftse 100 index fell 0.6%. A brief recovery was brought to an end in afternoon trading when Bank of England governor Mark Carney said the bank would debate an interest rate increase in the coming months.

His remarks boosted sterling and sent the blue chip index back to the day’s lows with big international companies such as drugmaker Shire and drinks firm Diageo — which benefit from a weaker pound — among the heaviest fallers. The mid- cap index which is more domestically focused, did slightly better, ending down 0.3%.

Fund platform Hargreaves Lansdown fell 2.3% following an industry report by the UK’s markets watchdog.