U.K. stocks drop for fourth day, banks off
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks dropped for a fourth straight day on Tuesday, as sluggish U.S. confidence data sent markets across Europe into red territory in late trade, while
The FTSE 100 index (UKX) closed 0.1% lower at 5,446.96. The index dropped 1.1% in Monday trade on concerns that European leaders won't produce a road map to curb the region's debt crisis when they meet later in the week in Brussels. Germany cool to EU fiscal union plan: report
The urgency for policy action was further highlighted on Tuesday as the Spanish government saw borrowing cost soar at short-term debt auctions.
In the U.K., banks tracked losses for the financial sector in Europe after a fresh round of bank downgrades in Spain by Moody's Investors Service.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (RBS) dropped 3.8%, as technical issues in the past few days have left millions of customers without access to their money. The bank said in a statement Tuesday that the update of customer account balances had cleared overnight, with the exception of a few specific sets of transactions.
For the broader stock markets, weak U.S. data dragged indexes lower after a gauge of consumer confidence declined for a fourth month in June. Consumer-confidence gauge declines to 62 in June
Mining firms helped curb the losses for the U.K. stock index, with
Among other notable movers in London,
Pharmaceutical firm
On Tuesday, analysts at Société Générale, however, lifted the stock to buy from hold as they didn't "envisage multiple generics will be approved from here." They further forecast "that Shire will continue to generate revenues and profits from the Adderall XR franchise, albeit at a lower rate than previously forecast."
Outside the main index in London,
For the third quarter, the company mentioned uncertainty as to the effect of the Olympic Games in London.
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