Thursday, 02 Jul 2009 17:24
American economic cold chills London
The FTSE 100 dropped 2.45 per cent today as US jobless figures further shook confidence that worst of the recession is behind us.
The index closed down 106.44 points at 4,234.27.
US employment figures showed the jobless rate rose in June to 9.5 per cent – the highest level since 1983.
As the Dow Jones headed into lunch, it was down 2.08 per cent, while the S&P 500 in Chicago dropped 2.27 per cent at 12:00 EDT (17:00 BST).
Back in London, WPP dropped 7.01 per cent following a downgrade to sell from Citigroup.
Miners Anglo American and Rio Tinto fell 5.81 per cent and 5.70 per cent respectively, while Lonmin dropped 5.01 per cent.
London Stock Exchange Group was down 5.48 per cent and
Only four firms saw their stock prices rise. Guinness-brewer Diageo gained 0.89 per cent, Petrofac gained 0.52 per cent, Friends Provident rose 0.18 per cent and Admiral was up 0.11 per cent.
On the currency markets, sterling was down 0.51 per cent against the dollar to $1.63950 and up 0.45 per cent against the euro to €1.17030.