FTSE 100 index down 0.2%; HSBC Holdings, Standard Chartered contrast
London shares traded mildly lower on Tuesday, after falling sharply in the previous session, with several major banks and insurance firms under pressure again.
The FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX: news , chart , profile ) declined 0.2% to 3,617.71, moving off early gains in the wake of Monday's 5.3% drop.
HSBC Holdings shares closed down almost 20% on Monday and fell again on Tuesday, down 1.6%.
The losses followed news that the lender intends to shutter much of its U.S. consumer lending business and reported a 70% drop in net profit and a 12.5 billion pound rights issue.
Barclays shares were also lower, down 6.3%.
Still, Standard Chartered (UK:STAN: news , chart , profile ) shares rose 5.2%. The lender, which like HSBC has a large proportion of its business in Asia, posted a 17% rise in fiscal-year profit to $3.3 billion on Tuesday.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open across the Atlantic on Tuesday.
Financial-sector woes also hit the U.S. on Monday and the Dow industrials lost nearly 300 points to end at its worst levels since April 1997 after another bail out for insurance giant AIG.
Insurers were also lower in London on Tuesday, with Prudential shares down 2.6% and Legal & General (UK:LGEN: news , chart , profile ) shares down 2.8%.
Property investment firms also dropped, with Liberty International (UK:LII: news , chart , profile ) shares down 3.1%.
Building materials firm Wolseley (UK:WOS: news , chart , profile ) fell 3.6% after Irish peer CRH said Tuesday that it will issue 152.1 million new shares at 8.40 euros a share to raise 1.24 billion euros ($1.57 billion).
CRH's fiscal-year net profit fell 7% to 1.3 billion euros.
Still, drug makers gained ground, with GlaxoSmithKline shares up 2.1%, AstraZeneca (AZN:Shire
shares up 1%.
Shares of car insurance firm Admiral climbed 1.7%.
Its fiscal-year profit rose to 144.9 million pounds, from 127.4 million pounds a year ago, after revenue climbed 16% to 422.8 million pounds. Good results in its U.K. business were the key to its performance in the year, the firm said.
Shares in U.K. subprime lender Cattles (UK:CTT: news , chart , profile ) fell 35.6% outside the top index after it said it had suspended three executives and issued its second profit warning in as many weeks.
The lender said an external review of its impairment provisions uncovered a "breakdown in internal controls" which has resulted in impairment policies being applied incorrectly. See full story.
