Although US indices were up by the close yesterday, news out earlier this morning confirming the presence of a nerve poison in the US Senate has helped send the FTSE 100 index down about 16 points to 4,365 as currency traders have sent the dollar tumbling.
The FTSE is heading south for the fourth day in a row, and is now more than 150 points below its January high of 4,518, according to Bloomberg figures. About three-quarters of all stocks in the index have dropped so far today. Royal & Sun Alliance is down 2.25p to 95p, while Aviva is close behind with a 10.25p drop to 508.5p. Analysts at Merrill Lynch have cut their recommendation on some insurance stocks. BAE Systems is down 3p to 162.75p after Boeing yesterday said it was not interested in acquiring the UK firm. MmO2 is down 1.5p to 83p ahead of results due out tomorrow. The st...
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