Stock markets calm at the open but sterling still suffering
Stock markets have opened relatively calmly this morning as traders hold their nerve over the fallout from the EU referendum.
The FTSE 100 was down just 0.5 per cent at 6,111.36. Just one hour before trading started the index was expected to tumble by around three per cent.
The FTSE 250, generally considered a better indicator of the domestic economy, was down a little more – off 1.1 per cent – though it was hardly the turmoil and mass sell-offs some had feared.
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Chancellor George Osborne sought to calm the markets with his first intervention following the vote to leave the EU in a speech from the Treasury at 7am this morning. He outlined the resilience of the UK economy and dismissed the idea he would hold a post-Brexit "emergency budget."
Yet again, however, banking stocks and housebuilders were the worst hit. Barclays dropped 5.8 per cent, RBS was off by six per cent and Lloyds was down 3.2 per cent.
Taylor Wimpey, one of the worst hit stocks on Friday, dropped another 3.2 per cent this morning as estate agents Foxtons plunged by 20 per cent after issuing a profit warning following the UK's vote to leave.
Sterling, however, did take another big hit following its largest ever one-day fall on Friday. The pound was worth $1.3427 in early morning trading, down 1.84 per cent and back to its lowest level since the mid-1990s.