Fears that Greece will crash out of the euro triggered a global sell-off today that left London’s leading shares index at its lowest close of 2012.
The FTSE 100 Index was down nearly 2%, or 100.5 points at 5,554.6, after the leader of Greece’s left-wing Syriza bloc said he would try to form a coalition based on tearing up the terms of the country’s bailout deal, which would likely cause chaos by seeing the country ejected from the eurozone.
The turmoil wiped £26billion from the value of London’s blue chip shares index, with banks among the biggest losers.
Lloyds Banking Group was down 1.5p at 31.1p, Royal Bank of Scotland 1p lower at 23.5p and HSBC shares were 6.5p lower at 558.6p despite posting a 30% rise in first quarter operating profits.
In corporate news, Aviva chief executive Andrew Moss announced his surprise departure in the face of another bout of shareholder activism. Shares were up 0.6p at 302.9p.
Meanwhile, in the FTSE 250 Index, TUI chief executive Peter Long said booking trends for the summer remained healthy, but shares were down 6.1p at 183.7p after the firm revealed operating losses of £317million for the six months to March 31.
The biggest Footsie risers were Tullow Oil up 48p at £15.17, Land Securities ahead 13p at 742p, Tesco up 4.3p at 323.5p and Hammerson ahead 4.9p at 415.9p.
The biggest Footsie fallers were Polymetal International down 76.5p at 806.5p, Fresnillo off 112p at £13.94, Man Group down 6.3p at 82.5p, and Randgold Resources off 347p at £47.73.
Elaine McLachlan, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Inverness, noted that risers included Goals Soccer Centres, gaining 1.2% to 129.5p, electronics manufacturer Wolfson Microelectronics up 0.7% to 186.5p and Aberdeen-based transport firm FirstGroup rising 0.5% to 194.7p.
Fallers included oil and gas exploration company Parkmead, which lost 6.1% to 16.1p, and natural resources royalties firm Anglo Pacific off 5.8% at 285.9p.