FTSE endures difficult morning

Lloyds Banking Group was the leading top-flight faller today as the FTSE 100 Index saw a difficult start to the trading week.

The bank gained 87% backing for its £4 billion fundraising, but shares were under pressure as bookrunners attempted to sell the remaining 13%.

Lloyds was down more than 7% or 4.8p to 61.4p, with the wider market off 56.4 points at 4382.1 by mid-morning.

European markets were lower and US futures indicated an early slide on Wall Street as investors also fretted over the sustainability of recent share rallies with little corporate news to drive stocks.

Elsewhere in the banking sector Barclays said it was in discussions with US giant BlackRock over its fund management business but added there were “significant open issues” to resolve before a deal. Shares nudged 7.25p lower to 277.75p.

Miners generally hampered progress as a stronger dollar impacted metal prices. Lloyds aside, miners accounted for the rest of the Footsie’s top ten fallers - led by Vedanta Resources, which lost 118p to 1550p.

Elsewhere among the fallers, aerospace firm Cobham slid 6.4p to 173.7p after Goldman Sachs cut its rating to sell.

The analysts instead favour Rolls-Royce – upgraded from sell to neutral – which helped the firm climb 5.5p to 334.75p on a shortened risers board. Meggitt was also upped to ’buy’ by Goldman but lost 1p to 162p in the FTSE 250.

Among the retailers, JD Sports Fashion cheered 2.5p to 473.5p after accelerating sales growth in the past eight weeks. Rivals Sports Direct and JJB Sports both lost ground, shedding 1.5p to 92.5p and 0.75p to 33p respectively.

The London Stock Exchange was also a faller in the FTSE 250, down 32p to 779.5p despite being a potential candidate for promotion back to the top flight in this week’s Footsie reshuffle.