Eurozone fear hammers FTSE
BRITAIN’S top shares fell sharply yesterday, wiping out their gains from the start of the week on mounting fears Greece will leave the Eurozone.
The FTSE 100 slid 2.5 per cent to 5,266.41, its biggest one-day percentage drop since 21 November and its lowest close since 25 November, when markets were similarly beset with worries about the Eurozone’s debt crisis.
“The underlying circumstances today are no different than they were two days ago, two weeks ago, two months ago, but the longer it drags out, the more debilitating the situation is,” said Richard Jeffrey, chief investment officer at Cazenove Capital Management.
“What worries the markets most is that there isn’t any clearly defined way forward to this – there’s no map that we’re working to.”
Miners, among the previous session’s strongest gainers, were the biggest drags on the FTSE 100 as copper sank to a four and a half month low, with investors wary that a failure to tackle the euro crisis will hit global demand for industrial metals.
Vedanta was the biggest loser, falling 9.1 per cent, closely followed by Kazakhmys with a 7.9 per cent fall and Polymetal, which tanked 5.4 per cent.
Man Group also slid 5.8 per cent, after ratings agency Moody’s reiterated its downgrade warning.
BSkyB was one of only three blue-chip gainers. It rose 0.4 per cent, as the UK Competition Commission said the arrival of Lovefilm and Netflix in Britain has weakened the grip of the satellite broadcaster in the pay-TV movie market, making it less likely that the regulator will intervene in the sector.
Burberry Group trimmed initial steep losses to end down 1.2 per cent, after the luxury brand posted a 26 per cent jump in profit.