London’s leading shares index fell 1% today as investors began to lose faith that central banks would roll out more emergency stimulus measures this week.
The FTSE 100 Index has made strong gains since Thursday when the ECB’s pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro fuelled hopes of action from central banks across the globe.
It fell 58.4 points to 5,635.3 today however amid reports that Germany may oppose a drive to help lower Spain and Italy’s borrowing costs.
BP was among the biggest fallers, down 4%, after the oil giant revealed a greater-than-expected slide in profits in the first half of the year. Shares fell 19.4p to 425.1p.
Banks were among the biggest fallers after weak earnings figures from UBS, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.
Royal Bank of Scotland was down 4%, or 8.5p at 213.7p, while Lloyds Banking Group fell 0.7p at 30.4p and Barclays was off 2.6p at 168p.
Car and aircraft parts firm GKN was down despite announcing a 20% jump in its half-year dividend to reflect its strong performance and confidence in the future.
The company reported a 19% rise in pre-tax profits to £266million, but shares dropped 0.6p to 210.4p.
Outside the top flight, shares in infrastructure group Mouchel rose 14% as a deadline for a make-or-break restructuring approached. Shares rose 0.3p to 2.2p.
The biggest Footsie risers were Vedanta Resources up 48p at 976p, Sainsbury’s ahead 2.8p at 323.3p, Unilever up 17p at £22.91, and Glencore ahead 1.8p at 320.2p.
Among the biggest Footsie fallers were CRH down 71p at £11.60 and Shire down 75p at £18.48.
Elaine McLachlan, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Inverness, noted that the day’s risers included video security solutions specialist IndigoVision, gaining 7% to 340p and oil and gas support services firm Plexus Holdings up 6.1% at 136p.
Fallers included Devro, losing 3.2% to 291.7p.