LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Flops As Investors Search For Safety
February 09 2016 - 3:27AM
Dow Jones News
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
U.K. stocks moved lower Tuesday, extending a selloff in the
previous session that left the benchmark FTSE 100 near a three-week
low.
After initially opening higher, the U.K's FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to
5,670.16, with mining and finance shares lower. The benchmark on
Monday tumbled 2.7% to 5,689.36, its lowest close since Jan. 20,
hit by global growth concerns and persistent turmoil in the oil
markets.
"The key banking sector is being singled out for stress from a
dangerous cocktail of slowing economic growth, more widespread use
of negative interest rates, financial market turbulence, a
protracted commodity market depression (notably oil) and rising bad
loans (from commodity exposure) which could affect their ability to
repay debt," said Accendo Markets analysts Mike van Dulken and
Augustin Eden in a note.
Read:Why a selloff in European banks is ominous
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-a-selloff-in-european-banks-is-ominous-2016-02-07)
Among bank stocks, Asia-focused Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN)
and Barclays PLC (BCS) (BCS) each fell 1.4%, Royal Bank of Scotland
PLC (RBS.LN) (RBS.LN) lost 0.7%, and HSBC PLC (HSBA.LN) (HSBA.LN)
moved down 0.4%.
A stock selloff on Monday across Europe and in the U.S. spilled
over into Asian trade Tuesday, though China's markets were closed
for the Lunar New Year holiday. The session left Japanese stocks
down more than 5%, the yen climbing against the U.S. dollar and the
yield on Japan's benchmark 10-year government bond in negative
territory for the first time.
The moves highlighted investors' search for safety in this
year's turbulent global markets.
Energy movers: Oil prices were pushing higher Tuesday, with West
Texas Intermediate up nearly 3% at $30.44 a barrel and Brent crude
up nearly 2% at 33.38 a barrel.
But FTSE 100-listed oil shares were mixed. BP PLC (BP.LN)
(BP.LN) fell 0.2% but Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) (RDSB.LN) and
BG Group PLC (BG.LN) edged up 0.1%.
Other movers: TUI AG shares fell 2.1% after the travel operator
posted a wider net loss of 184 million euros
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tui-reaffirms-fiscal-2016-earnings-outlook-2016-02-09)
($199.2 million) compared with the year-ago period. The company
said demand for Turkey has declined, with summer 2016 bookings down
about 40%. First-quarter underlying earnings, however, rose
7.2%.
J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) shares rose 0.9% after the supermarket
chain's market share rose to 16.8%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sainsbury-sales-rise-for-sixth-period-in-a-row-2016-02-09)
in the 12 weeks ended Jan. 31, according to a survey compiled by
Kantar Worldpanel.
You're invited to Investing Insights: A global markets survival
guide
If you'll be in London on Tuesday, Feb. 23, you're invited to
join us for an evening of cocktails and conversation on the topics
of shifting monetary policy, growth, currencies, and the outlook
for investing opportunities and risks in European and global
markets.
Our panelists for the evening will include MarketWatch Personal
Finance and Investing Columnist Robert Powell; Mark Hulbert, Editor
of the Hulbert Financial Digest; and Virginie Maisonneuve, Founder
and Managing Director of Maisonneuve Global Advisors.
The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are
required. For more information or to RSVP for the event, please
email (MarketWatchevent@wsj.com).
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 09, 2016 04:12 ET (09:12 GMT)
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