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Disappointing job figures in the United States took their toll on London markets on Friday as the leading share index the FTSE 100 fell 76 points to 6224.3 at the close of business.
News from the US that job growth there grew by just 92,000 in July, significantly lower than the 135,000 expected, prompted fears about the health of the economy there.
This brought unemployment in the US in July to 4.6 percent, the highest since January.
Also, the Institute for Supply Management's services index dropped to 55.8 last month from 60.7 in June, well below expectations of a fall to 59.
The FTSE 100 now stands just above its opening level at the start of the year of 6220.8.
The fallout from the high insurance costs from the summer floods in the United Kingdom continued to hit the banks hard. Bank of Scotland shares fell 16.5p to 575p, Lloyds TSB was down 8.5p to 553.5p, HBOS slipped 11.5p to 953p while Northern Rock was down a significant 37p to 763.5p.
The figures also pushed the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq significantly lower during Friday trading, wiping out Thursday’s gains. However, they did recover somewhat and stood about 0.5 percent lower at the time of writing.
13:28
Posted on Aug-04-2007
