Good morning from London where the FTSE 100 is down once again in early trading, following the US and Asian markets lower.
The biggest corporate story so far today is Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund launching the sale of nearly half its stake in Barclays Bank. Barclays is under pressure to improve its performance and it appears the Qataris think their money could be put to better use elsewhere. The move has had a predictable effect on Barclays share price, its today’s biggest faller so far down by around 3% on the day. The UK’s mining giants comprise most of the rest of the bottom ten.
Some relatively upbeat news from the high street though as pub chain Marston's are reporting Christmas bookings are well ahead of last year – they’re also claiming a jump in full-year sales. The pub operator says that in the year to October total revenue climbed 9.1% to more than £870mln though it wasn’t enough to avoid an overall loss for the period.
Gold is up to fresh record highs again this morning, as investors start to look beyond today’s high interest rate environment. And that’s also looking like good news for housebuilders, with Taylor Wimpey the FTSE 100’s biggest gainer so far today.
That’s all for this morning but stay tuned to Proactive throughout the day for all the latest business updates.
