FTSE continues slide

The FTSE 100 Index continued its slide today after hitting a six-year low yesterday on fears regarding the health of heavyweight financial firms.

A positive start to trading proved to be short-lived as the Footsie stood 47.2 points lower at 3578.6 by mid-morning, adding to the 5.3% fall seen on Monday. Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 4% overnight, while Asian markets also lost ground.

Banks were back under pressure despite Asian-facing Standard Chartered reporting a 19% rise in pre-tax profits to £3.4bn (€3.8bn). Shares in the bank powered ahead 9% at one stage but were later 2% higher, up 12.5p at 599.5p.

Elsewhere HSBC fell another 11.25p to 387.5p, a drop of 3% after its 19% fall yesterday in the wake of its rights issue announcement and 62% fall in profits.

Lloyds Banking Group was down 3.6p to 45.8p and Barclays dropped 5.5p to 82.2p, while Royal Bank of Scotland was down 1.1p at 21.5p.

Mining giant Xstrata was the biggest top flight faller after its share price adjusted for the impact of its rights issue. Shares were down 284p at 317.5p.

Many retailers meanwhile were on the front foot after brokers at Numis eased their cautious stance on the sector. B&Q owner Kingfisher cheered 2.3p to 121p, while in the second tier, Currys and PC World firm DSG was 2.5p better at 21p after it also released details of plans for more Currys megastores.