FTSE down as banks suffer the Bernanke effect

The FTSE opened down 9.88 points, or 0.19%, to 5,300.78, with financials worst hit. RBS shares fell 2.33% to 32.23p per share in early trading, while Barclays dropped 1.7% to 292p. Miners Xstrata were among the biggest losers, down 1.49% to £10.56 per share. Supermarket giant Tesco saw its shares slip 1.5% to 429.10p on news of lacklustre sales figures. Like-for-like sales rose just 2.8% in the three months to November, slightly below expectations of a 3% increase, as the group battles with stagnant food price inflation. Across Europe banks suffered on the news from the Fed ...