The London Stock Exchange is having a dismal February. From £17 at the start of the month, its shares now sit at £13.84, down another 5.5% today.
Investors are concerned about an overhang of shares, and about growing competition. Morgan Stanley analyst Bruce Hamilton helped today's slide by downgrading his recommendation from equal weight to underweight, and cutting his price target from £20.20 to £15.
He said: "We see downside risk from the stock overhang from potential sellers Dubai and Italian banks and slowing new issues, Borsa Italiana volumes and information products."
The LSE fall helped push the FTSE 100 110.8 points lower to 5965.7. But the main damage was done by Rentokil Initial, which ended down 23% at 80.5p after a profit warning, and Wall Street. The US market was down around 150 points by the time London closed after poor GDP and employment news, and some downbeat comments to a Senate committee by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
Royal Bank of Scotland fell 8p to 402p as analysts struggled to make sense of its profit figures.
Among the others issuing updates today, Bluetooth specialist CSR disappointed investors with a warning of tough trading, and saw its shares drop 24% to 324.25p.
