FTSE slides
Disappointing US jobs figures overshadowed a return to profit for British taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland today.
RBS registered a £9m (€10.8) surplus in first-half results as it benefited from a fall in bad debt charges and further signs of recovery under the leadership of chief executive Stephen Hester.
The bank's shares were more than 2% ahead at one stage but the closely-watched US non-farm payrolls pared the advance and left the FTSE 100 Index 33.4 points lower at 5332.4 by the close.
Payrolls fell by 131,000 in July - well above the 75,000 reduction expected - while private sector job creation remains sluggish. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was more than 1% lower at the time of London's close.
The figures put more pressure on the US dollar on its way to its ninth successive weekly decline in a row against a basket of currencies. The pound strengthened to just under $1.60 dollars but was flat against the euro.
Despite the jolt from the US figures, the interim bank reporting season has confirmed the sector's return to health following the financial crisis, with investors relieved at the absence of nasty shocks in the half-year figures.
Share gains for the 'big four' were squeezed as the session wore on however, with RBS 0.9p lower at 51.1p, Barclays 0.6p ahead at 324.6p and Lloyds Banking Group down 2.3p to 73.7p. HSBC also lost previous gains to stand 7.6p down at 661.4p.
Oil giant BP made strides after it said it had completed cementing operations as part of the process to end the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Shares were 1.95p higher at 425.35p.
And global communications firm Inmarsat jumped 6% at one stage as investors reacted to news that it planned to spend more than $1bn (€753,091) on three new satellites as part of an upgrade of its fleet.
The investment, which follows a tie-up with Boeing, came as Inmarsat announced a rise in half-year sales and profits. Shares closed 28.5p higher at 741.5p.
In the FTSE 250 Index, shares in software group Logica were 6% higher as it stuck by full-year forecasts and said trends appeared to be improving in Europe, despite a slight fall in UK half-year profits.
Shares rose 6.7p to 116.1p, leaving it at the top of the second-tier risers board.
Beleaguered social housing firm Connaught moved the other way in the second tier as investors took more heavy punishment and the stock hit an all-time low.
Shares in the business were down 46.5% or 13.5p to 15.5p after falling as low as 10p earlier, as the company braced investors for a "material loss" for the year to August.
The biggest FTSE 100 risers were Inmarsat up 28.5p at 741.5p, African Barrick Gold ahead 21p at 568p, Whitbread up 34p at 1443p and Fresnillo ahead 14p at 1057p.
The biggest fallers were Lonmin down 83p at 1557p, Aviva off 12.6p at 381.7p, Lloyds Banking Group down 2.3p at 73.7p and Unilever off 47p at 1689p.
