FTSE 100 dragged down by Eurozone woes
The index was dragged down in early trading, as investors fretted over renewed uncertainty surrounding the Eurozone crisis.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is due to meet with Euro Group chief Jean-Claude Juncker today to discuss the country’s austerity plans.
By far the biggest faller in the index in early trading was TT Electronics, down almost 15 per cent on the news that profits at the electronic component firm plummeted in the first six months of the year.
Emergency repair services company Homeserve followed closely behind, shedding more than 9.5 per cent.
Headline mining shares were among the biggest fallers, with Evraz, Eurasian Natural Resources and Kazakhmys down 4.48 per cent, 3.86 per cent and 3.54 per cent respectively.
After a 21 per cent bounce in value yesterday thanks to news of a cancelled rights issue, shares in Heritage Oil were trading 3.27 per cent down in early trading.
UK financials also dragged the blue chip index down. In early trading HSBC was down 1.02 per cent, RBS dropped 1.81 per cent and Barclays declined by 0.28 per cent. Only Lloyds Banking Group remained flat.
On the early risers, supply chain management firm Wincanton was up five per cent. The company has benefited from several new contracts with supermarkets recently.
Storage firm Big Yellow Group was up by 1.12 per cent, and fellow storage company Safestore rose by almost one per cent.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed 0.27 per cent down on news that Japan’s exports fell by 8.1 per cent in July. China’s Shanghai Composite index fell only a fraction above its lowest level since March 2009, trading 0.5 per cent down.