The FTSE 100 Index sank more than 1% into the red today after banking giant Barclays spooked investors with news of two fresh investigations that threaten to further damage its reputation.
Barclays was one of the biggest share losers – down 5%, or 11.3p at 227.5p – after it reported third-quarter losses of £47million and admitted separate US authorities were looking into transactions between the bank and Middle East investors as well as power trading in America’s west.
A hefty fall for oil and gas exploration giant BG Group also weighed on the Footsie, with the shares plunging 14%, or £1.82 to 1147.5p after the firm scaled back production forecasts.
Retail giant Next was also down, by 39p to £35.66, despite it increasing the lower end of its forecast profits range for the current financial year by £15million to £590million.
A disappointing third-quarter update from GlaxoSmithKline added the group to the fallers’ board, down 33.5p to 1386.5p, after it said sales fell 5% and were likely to remain flat over the full-year against a previous expectation for growth of 2%.
Other big Footsie fallers included Croda International 64p lower at £22.01 and Kazakhmys down 20.5p to £7.09.
Among the risers were Petrofac up 56p to £16.04, Standard Life ahead 6.4p at £2.92, Resolution 4.6p higher at 218.3p and Randgold Resources up £1.50 at £74.00.
Outside the top flight, A.G. Barr and Britvic were in focus after they revealed an extended deadline to complete discussions over a merger. Barr dropped 3p to £4.45 and Britvic fell 0.8p to 359.2p.
Stuart Lamont, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted Stagecoach Group 1.4% higher at 274.15p as well as EnQuest off 2.1% at 115.85p, Faroe Petroleum up 1.9% to 153.25p and Royal Bank of Scotland shedding 1.7% to £2.76.