FTSE 100 movers: RBS remains a concern

8th Dec 2009 11:20

It has been a mixed day for banks. Royal Bank of Scotland tops the worst performers and Standard Chartered is also in decline but Lloyds Banking Group is one of the best performers. The prospect of the inclusion a windfall tax on bonuses in tomorrow's pre-budget report is worrying the sector, but the solvency of Greece is likely to be more of a problem. The level of exposure British banks have to Greece is unclear. RBS is the UK bank most exposed to Dubai and this is worrying investors. In contrast, Lloyds has received offers to exchange $2.7bn of old debt, although it has only accepted just short of $1bn. Miners dominate the main fallers. Xstrata, Lonmin, Fresnillo and Anglo American are all down by around 4% on the day. Xstrata says that it is closing its Kidd metallurgical plant. That will involve a $375m write-off. A smelter in Chile will be written-down by $170m. There will also be an impairment charge of $1.9bn relating to nickel assets. Xstrata blames much of this on the weakness of the US dollar. FTSE 100 - RisersPearson (PSON) 863.00p +1.05%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 223.50p +1.04%Compass Group (CPG) 445.00p +0.82%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,092.00p +0.74%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 53.96p +0.50%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 602.00p +0.33%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,459.00p +0.21%BAE Systems (BA.) 341.70p +0.18%WPP Group (WPP) 589.00p +0.08%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,266.00p +0.08%FTSE 100 - FallersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 30.87p -6.45%SEGRO (SGRO) 320.30p -4.39%Xstrata (XTA) 1,025.00p -4.38%Lonmin (LMI) 1,746.00p -4.38%Fresnillo (FRES) 815.00p -4.06%Anglo American (AAL) 2,516.00p -3.97%Rentokil Initial (RTO) 97.05p -3.91%Hammerson (HMSO) 390.60p -3.79%Prudential (PRU) 616.00p -3.67%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,438.00p -3.65%