Banks break FTSE fall

As of 9.46am, the FTSE 100 had slipped 9.3 points, or 0.15%, to 6171. Northern Rock continued where it left off yesterday, climbing 6p to 116.1p. It was closely followed by Barclays, which gained 22.5p, or 4.53%, to 519.5p, and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which gained 11.5p to climb to 754p. However, these gains were overshadowed by losses for Schroders (down 33p to £11.03) and Sage Group (down 5.2p to 197.3p). In the US, the Dow Jones fell 237.4 to 12743.44, led by significant losses for Home Depot. The hardware store group dropped more than 5% to 27.49. It was followed by Am...