FTSE Falls on Banks and Oil

The FTSE 100 share index dropped 1.1 per cent on Monday after poor performances by banks and oil companies and worries of a possible U.S. recession. Overall the FTSE 100 dropped 65.7 points down to 5,818.6.

HSBC managed to help slow the drop, rising 3.1 per cent after announcing a 10 per cent rise in profits for 2007, despite being hit by a $17.2 billion (£8.7 billion) debt from the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

Last Friday saw U.S. stocks fall dramatically, adding to the belief that a recession might be just around the corner.

On the FTSE, while HSBC had a good day, its fellow banks saw a day of decline. HBOS and Alliance & Leicester dropped 7.5 and 6.7 per cent respectively, whilst Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays dropped 4.1 and 3.2 per cent respectively.

Insurers Man Group, Standard Life and Aviva all dropped around the four per cent mark each. Publisher Pearson also dropped 2.6 per cent following a drop in its growth outlook was announced today.

Oil producers did not do much better, with BP and Royal Dutch Shell losing 1.0 and 2.2 per cent respectively, while gas producer BG Group lost 0.9 per cent.

Miner Xstrata and drug maker GlaxoSmithKline managed to push up the FTSE 100 a little, both increasing by 1.0 and 0.4 per cent respectively.