London’s FTSE 100 dropped into the red today after bank stocks held the blue-chip index back.
The Footsie broke its four-day winning streak to close 20.9 points lower at 5,896.2 as banking shares fell amid fears over soaring bills for mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI).
The stock market fall came on the 25th anniversary of the Black Monday crash, when more than £50billion was wiped off the value of London shares as markets worldwide nose-dived.
Yesterday, Barclays was nearly 3% or 6.9p lower at 233.9p after Thursday’s news of another £700million to cover the cost of rising PPI claims.
Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland also suffered share falls due to concerns they may have to set aside further provisions. Lloyds fell 1.4p to 40.5p, while RBS fell 6p to 281p.
Temporary power supplier Aggreko was the biggest faller on the Footsie, down 7% or 165p to £21.37 after it warned over profits.
Renewed global demand fears and falling copper prices hit miners hard, with Evraz off 10.6p to 248.3p and Eurasian Natural Resources 10.9p lower at 348.9p.
The biggest Footsie risers were Johnson Matthey up 42p to £23.29, Hammerson ahead 7.3p to 483.4p, Hargreaves Lansdown 10.5p higher at 753p and SABMiller up 34.5p to 2,633.5p.
Among the biggest Footsie fallers was Bunzl, 44p lower at £10.38.
Barry Shepherd, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted that fallers included Aberdeen Asset Management, which shed 2.1% to 325.8p, while Premier Oil lost 3.9% to 367p.
Risers included Hunting, which added 0.1% to 808.75p, and Faroe Petroleum, which gained 0.3% to 153.125p.