FTSE 100 Down 1.4%; Bank Stocks Fall On U.S. Lenders' Credit Woes
(RTTNews) - The UK market is down sharply on Friday, hurt by a sell-off in the financials sector amid concerns about the health of U.S. banks after a couple of regional banks disclosed that they were exposed to alleged fraud by borrowers, spreading jitters about credit market turmoil.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 133.39 points or 1.41% at 9,302.70 a few minutes past noon.
Shares of lenders are hurt by concerns about the health of U.S. banking sector. Zions Bancorporation, a Utah-based lender, said it would write off $50m on two loans, while Phoenix-headquartered Western Alliance said it had started legal proceedings over a bad loan said to be worth $100m.
Barclays is down more than 6%. Standard Chartered is down 4.1%, Natwest Group is declining by about 2.7%, Lloyds Banking Group is down 1.9%, and HSBC Holdings is lower by about 1.6%.
Intermdiate Capital Group is down 6.2%. Scottish Mortgage, Prudential and Legal & General are also down sharply.
Schroders, Antofagasta, Babcock International, Melrose Industries, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Croda International, Exprian, BP and IAG are down 2.5 to 4.3%.
Among the gainers, Pearson is up 4.7% after it reported a 4% rise in underlying group sales for Q3 2025.
Smiths Group is rising 3.2%. The industrial conglomerate has announced plans to sell or demerge two of its four core divisions.
Coca-Cola, Unilever, Diageo, Imperial Brands and Haleon are up 0.4 to 1%.
European Shares Seen Opening Up As Traders Shrug Off Fed Hike
Indian Shares Edge Higher In Cautious Trade
Australian Market Trims Early Gains In Mid-market
Asian Markets Trade Mostly Higher
Indian Shares Seen Little Changed At Open After Fed Rate Hike
Oversold Thai Stock Market Called Lower Again
No Help Yet For Indonesia Stock Market
