Profit-taking knocks FTSE

A bout of profit-taking knocked the wind out of the London market’s sails today while a dividend cut at insurer Legal & General saw the stock sink more than 6%.

Banking shares endured a mixed performance after Standard Chartered announced a share placing and nationalised lender reported first-half losses.

The FTSE 100 Index slumped into the red – down 35.6 points to 4646.8 by early morning – with insurers among the big fallers.

Legal & General slid 4p to 61.25p after it slashed the shareholder dividend by 45%. It was followed on the fallers board by Aviva – down 13.3p to 338.6p – and Friends Provident, off 1.85p to 68.75p.

The top flight rose to its highest close since October yesterday helped by strong banking results from Barclays and HSBC.

Barclays rose another 2% to the top of the risers board, after its interim results continued to reflect well on the business. Shares were up 7.6p to 330.15p.

Royal Bank of Scotland offered further cheer for investors today by agreeing the sale of businesses in six Asian countries for a premium of $50m (€35m) on their book value.

The part-nationalised bank rose 70p at 47.11p, having earlier topped the risers board.

Meanwhile Standard Chartered fell more than 4% – or 66p to 1,370p – after it said it planned to raise £1bn (€1.2bn) through a share placing to fund growth of its Eastern-facing businesses.

The falls came despite a 10% gain in half-year pre-tax profits to $2.84bn (€2bn).

Bookmakers suffered a slump in the FTSE 250 Index after William Hill said poor horseracing results and a quiet July would leave it with lower-than-expected profits from its high street betting shops.

Shares dived 14.6p to 171.7p, while Ladbrokes fell 14p to 165.6p.