Another day in the red for FTSE

The FTSE 100 sunk to its fourth losing session in a row today as under-fire BP took another tumble into the red and US growth figures disappointed.

The stock fell as much as 9% at one stage to hit a 14-year low amid worries over a short-term funding crisis in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average also suffered after revised figures for the first quarter of 2010 showed the US economy had grown more slowly than expected. The Footsie followed it lower to finish 53.8 points down at 5046.5 or 1.1%.

Yusuf Heusen, senior sales trader at IG Index, said: "Good news seems to be in short supply at the moment... it would not be a surprise if shares were still under some pressure when trading resumes on Monday."

Sterling edged higher to 1.494 dollars, although it was steady against the euro at 1.21 as investors also monitored developments at Canada's G20 summit of major nations.

The banking sector was also in focus after US politicians agreed financial restrictions on derivatives trading than were less strict than some investors had feared.

Reports the industry had won lobbying efforts to pare back Basel III requirements for capital also helped some banking stocks in London. Asian-facing Standard Chartered lifted 2% or 31.5p to 1742p and HSBC added 4.7p to 641,8p.

However, other players failed to benefit with part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group worse off with a fall of 2.1p to 54.2p.

BP was the biggest loser amid credit financing worries. The group, which also announced that Gulf of Mexico clean-up costs had reached £1.6bn (€1.94bn), fell 20.65p to 304.6p after falling below the 300p mark at one stage.

It was joined on the fallers board by a host of other commodity stocks as oil and metals slipped on fresh jitters over global recovery. Miner Kazakhmys shed 43p to 1067p.

Retailers were also under pressure after a post-Budget review of the sector by Morgan Stanley led to downgrades for a number of leading names.

They included WH Smith, which slipped 9.3p to 418.1p, and Halfords with a drop of 21p to 525p. B&Q owner Kingfisher, which was also targeted by Morgan Stanley, fell 4.5p to 220.4p.

Market heavyweight Vodafone added some much needed support, up 1.15p to 144.05p as Collins Stewart lifted its rating to buy.

In the second tier, international ground engineering specialist Keller was down 3.5p to 546.5p, losing gains made earlier as it said full-year earnings were on course to hit market forecasts.

Housebuilder and urban regenerator Berkeley Group edged up 1p to 801p after better-than-expected full-year profits of £110.3m (€134m).

The biggest Footsie risers were Reckitt Benckiser up 72p to 3126p, Standard Chartered ahead 31.5p to 1742p, Randgold Resources up 80p to 6480p and Segro up 3p to 263.2p.

The biggest Footsie fallers were BP down 20.65p to 304.6p, Kazakhmys off 43p to 1067p, Eurasian Natural Resources down 36.5p to 930.5p and Lloyds down 2.1p to 54.2p.