Banks were among the main casualties in today's market slump on continuing worries about the credit crunch and the effect the problems at US monoline insurers would have on their balance sheets and future growth.
So after yesterday's revival, the top six banks accounted for around 36 points of today's 158.2 point decline on the FTSE 100 to 5868.0.
HSBC fell 19p to 759p, Royal Bank of Scotland 22.5p to 383p, Barclays 20.5p to 460.75p, Standard Chartered 80p to £16.30, HBOS 22.5p to 687.5p and Lloyds TSB 15p to 432.5p.
Property companies fell after analysts at HSBC downgraded the sector. Housebuilders were weaker on expectations that a stronger-than-expected survey of the UK services sector meant the Bank of England would only cut interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday, and may delay further reductions.
But it was the services survey from the US, which showed an unexpected decline in January, which did much of the damage to the markets. The drop prompted more talk of a recession in the US, and the Dow Jones Industrial average had dropped around 200 points by the time London closed. With the FTSE 100 falling back below 6000, the FTSE 250 slumped below 10,000, closing down 306.8 points at 9955.3.
