A slump for oil giant BP amid fears it will be unable to secure an out-of-court settlement with the US government over the Gulf of Mexico disaster dragged the London market lower today.
BP – a major constituent of the FTSE 100 Index – fell 3% to 423.85p, contributing to the Footsie sliding 14.2 points to 5657.9.
Nerves that the European Central Bank will fail to prescribe the medicine needed for the ailing eurozone also rattled traders.
The Footsie’s biggest fallers included Resolution down 11p at £2.03, Kazakhmys off 27p at £5.70, BG Group down 50p at £12.21 and Evraz off 6.5p at 211.5p.
Hargreaves Lansdown shares were 4.5p lower at £6.26 despite the investment fund broker reporting a 21% rise in annual pre-tax profits.
Among the biggest risers in the FTSE 100 were ITV up 2.9p at 84.9p, Lloyds Banking Group ahead 1p at 33.9p, Croda International up 66p at £24.29 and Petrofac ahead 36p at £15.54.
Shares in Sports Direct International were 3% higher, up 10p to £3.24 on the back of a year-on-year sales rise of 19.9% in the 13 weeks to July 29.
Barry Shepherd, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted Hunting shedding 2.49% to 784.75p as well as Aberdeen Asset Management up 1.08% at 281.5p and Petrofac adding 2.37% to £15.54.