Poor US consumer confidence rocks FTSE 100

Tuesday 30th June 2009

The FTSE 100 saw a dramatic sell off mid-afternoon today leaving the index closing down 1.04 per cent.

After spending much of the day holding ground with the opening price, the index dropped at 15:00 BST to close at 4,249.21 - a loss of 44.82 points.

The sell-off was matched in the US, when the Dow Jones dropped at the same time after initial gains, caused by US consumer confidence figures showing a surprise drop.

This led to fears the strength of any recovery may well have been overestimated.

At 11:51 EDT (16:51 BST) the Dow was down 1.44 per cent to 8,406.87. Chicago's S&P 500 was down 1.36 per cent.

Leading the drops in London, gold miner Randgold Reserves fell 3.14 per cent.

Schroders fell 3.07 per cent, Standard Chartered was down 2.98 per cent, man Group dropped 2.97 per cent and miner Anglo American slid 2.73 per cent.

But a handful of companies did see gains.

Builders merchant Wolseley was up 2.84 per cent as traders looked favourably on the departure of CEO Chip Hornsby who oversaw as 80 per cent fall in profits in nine months to April as the firm was struck by the construction recession.

News the UK GDP growth estimates had fallen to a 50-year low led by construction did not rock the stock or the markets in general.

Thomas Cook was up 2.80 per cent, ICAP gained 2.50 per cent and Amec climbed 2.03 per cent.

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