FTSE financial stocks fall after surge last week

Investors took home some of their profits today as the London market slipped into the red and financial stocks fell after last week’s surge.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group slumped 1% and 1.5% respectively after HSBC – which ended the day flat – produced its first quarter results.

The FTSE 100 Index closed down 26.6 points at 4435.5 as traders collected gains from last week’s 4.5% rise for the top flight.

The picture was similar across global markets, as France’s CAC 40 dropped almost 2% and the Dax in Germany slid 1%.

In Wall Street the session started with a similar sell off and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1.4%.

But a slump into the red for the wider market hid a strong session for some firms, including Centrica, which saw its shares race ahead as shareholders supported its £2.3bn (€2.55bn) deal for a 20% stake in British Energy and its future nuclear generation projects in the UK.

Shares gained 6% or 13.75p to 241.25p as its agreement with France’s EDF for the nuclear deal was secured at better terms than the equivalent price for British Energy when it was sold last year.

In a poor session for the mining sector, Kazakhmys topped the fallers’ board with a 13% loss – down 104.5p at 663p – while Lonmin slumped 162p to 1460p.

Investors were spooked after Lonmin posted a pre-tax loss and revealed plans for a rights issue to raise $457m (€335m), alongside comments about uncertain demand in the platinum metals market. Johnson Matthey, which is a refiner of platinum, fell 54p to 1220p.

Banking stocks suffered a correction after a strong run in recent sessions, although shares climbed a little at the end of the day. First quarter trading figures from HSBC – up 0.5p to 578p – provided the trigger, even though there were no nasty surprises in the report.

Royal Bank of Scotland was down 1.3p at 46.1p, while Lloyds Banking Group shed 1.4p at 99.3p.

But Barclays reversed an early retreat to finish the session up 6p at 287p.

One of the other big upward moves of the session came from security group G4S, which beat investor expectations with a 48% rise in operating profits for the first quarter. The firm rose to the top of the leader board with a 6% rise, up 12.65p to 212.25p.

Thomson and First Choice owner TUI saw its shares fall 3% – or 8.5p to 259.75p - despite saying the Mexico swine flu outbreak has not hit demand for long-haul trips.