Banks drag European markets lower amid Deutsche Bank woes
The FTSE 100 moved 1.26%, or 94.15 points, lower to finish at 7,405.45.
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Your support makes all the difference.Banks suffered another poor session on Friday as Deutsche Bank became the latest financial firm to start putting traders on edge.
Europe’s biggest markets all dropped in value as uncertainty once again rippled through.
It came after particular worries about Deutsche Bank caused shares to drop by more than 14% before midday on Friday and credit default swaps – which are used by Deutsche’s bondholders as insurance should it fail – soared.
Shares in the company reduced their losses slightly as investors suggested another Credit Suisse scenario was not of the horizon, but sentiment remained dented.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “It looks like the banking crisis isn’t solved.
“Stocks are down heavily today, especially in Europe, as everyone’s struggler-of-choice Deutsche Bank sees its stock fall sharply.
“This renewed bout of selling shows that the takeover of Credit Suisse hasn’t put a lid on the crisis, and investors will go into the weekend hoping for some more calming words from authorities.”
In London, banking firms Standard Chartered and Barclays were among the weakest performers as a result.
The FTSE 100 moved 1.26%, or 94.15 points, lower to finish at 7,405.45.
Elsewhere, the German Dax fell by 1.81%, and the French Cac 40 decreased by 1.9% at the close.
In the US, the European sell-off spread, causing stateside markets to open in the red, with JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup all lower.
Meanwhile, sterling dropped back as cautious investors sought solace in the dollar
The pound was down 0.54% to 1.222 US dollars, and rose by 0.19% to 1.136 euros at market close in London.
In company news, investors cheered pub group Wetherspoons on Friday as it saw sales jump ahead of pre-pandemic levels and returned to a half-year profit.
The hospitality giant, which runs 843 pubs in the UK and Ireland, reported a 5% increase in sales over the six months to January 29 compared with the same period in 2019, and up 13% compared with the previous year.
Shares gained by 79p to 660p as a result on Friday.
Pharmaceutical group GSK dropped back after a California judge denied the company’s bid to keep expert testimony allegedly linking its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac to cancer out of an upcoming trial.
Analysts said the ruling will weigh on GSK’s share price until the trial begins in July. Shares dipped by 36.6p to 1,401.2p.
Marine services firm James Fisher & Sons sank after it told investors that revenues are set to have slipped back more than 3% over the past year to £475 million.
Shares dropped by 18.5p to 294.5p as it confirmed profitability also set to hold roughly flat.
The price of oil lost ground as a result of wider market weakness and resultant uncertainty over demand.
Brent crude oil decreased by 1.98% to 74.41 US dollars per barrel when the London markets closed.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 were Reckitt Benckiser, up 120p at 6,104p, British American Tobacco, up 48.5p at 2,872p, Beazley, up 7.5p at 564.5p, Diageo, up 36p at 3,599p, and Endeavour Mining, up 17p at 1,860p.
The biggest fallers of the session were Standard Chartered, down 40.6p at 591.8p, Ashtead, down 263p at 4,737p, Barclays, down 5.88p at 133.9p, JD Sports, down 7.1p at 163.95p, and CRH, down 160p at 3,888p.