RBS falls 4.59 percent, leads banks lower

Banks were lower in Europe Thursday, helping to send equities markets lower in the region.

In London, the FTSE 100 was down 0.65 percent to 4,387.54 while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.92 percent to 7,518.27.

Royal Bank of Scotland led declines by banks as it dropped 4.59 percent on the 100, while the biggest decliner on that index was investment manager Man Group (LSE: EMG), which was down 6.9 percent.

Other decliners on the 100 included asset manager Schroders (LSE: SDRt), where non-voting shares were 5.16 percent lower, while British Land (LSE: BLND) fell 5.63 percent and cruise operator Carnival (LSE: CCL; NYSE: CCL) dropped 5.97 percent.

Shares related to commodities were higher on the 100, while ITV (LSE: ITV) was again the best performer on the 250 with a gain of 17.46 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.1 percent to 861.01 while the IBEX fell 0.79 percent to 9,435.5, the CAC-40 was 0.95 percent lower to 3,263.7 and the Dax dropped 1.36 percent to 4,932.88.

There were only five winners on the CAC-40, led by Air France-KLM (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) with a gain of 2.43 percent, while manufacturer and retailer Saint-Gobain (Euronext: SGO) turned in the worst performance on the index as it dropped 6.56 percent.

Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) had the worst day on the Dax when it fell 3.73 percent, while carmakers were also lower on the index.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on the session.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.13 percent to 9,451.39 while the Topix index added 0.31 percent to 895.59 and the Mothers market gained 2.68 percent to 385.6.

Carmakers were up, but Japan Tobacco (TYO: 2914) was 6.9 percent lower after an opposition party official said that tobacco taxes will go up in an effort to cut smoking in Japan in half if the party wins in the next election.

Other gainers in the region included the Sensex, which added 1.32 percent to 14,296.01 while the Kospi gained 2.21 percent to 1,392.17.

On the other hand, the Straits Times Index was down 0.57 percent while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries fell 1.09 percent to 3,753.9 and the S&P/ASX200 dropped 1.19 percent to 3,755.7.

Markets in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan were closed for a public holiday.

New York markets were higher in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.18 percent to 8,314.75 while at the same time the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.23 percent to 1,735.12 and the S&P 500 had gained 0.62 percent to 898.63.

Story link: RBS falls 4.59 percent, leads banks lower