Lloyds and Natwest shares fall in ‘perfect combination’ of fears
Lloyds and Natwest shares were among the top fallers on the FTSE 100 index on Friday as a combination of fears weighed upon City stocks.
The FTSE 350 bank index lost 2.17 per cent over the course of the day amid a widespread sell off across the blue-chip index.
The FTSE 100 fell 1.1 per cent to 9,698.37p.
Lloyds Banking Group – which is often seen as an informal barometer for the UK economy due to its domestic focus – dropped nearly three per cent to 91.60p.
Natwest stock shed 3.5 per cent and Barclays 3.12 per cent.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, told City PM: “UK banks find themselves hit by a perfect combination of global growth worries and UK-specific concerns around the Budget.”
It comes as jitters raced through UK markets following reports that Rachel Reeves has scrapped her plans to raise income tax in the forthcoming Autumn Budget.
Reeves spooks markets
The Chancellor was poised to hike income tax by 2p whilst cutting national insurance by the same amount in a move that would break Labour’s pledge to not raise taxes on ‘working people.’
But now the first set of Budget proposals sent to the UK fiscal watchdog – including an income tax increase – have been kicked to the curb, effectively sending Reeves back to the drawing board.
The yield on 10-year UK gilts climbed by 13 basis points at the start of trading to 4.57 per cent – the biggest jump since July when bond markets were panicked at the sight of Rachel Reeves teary in the House of Commons.
Banks were expected to be spared from a tax raid in the Budget after fierce lobbying but the renewed speculation after Reeves ripped up her biggest revenue raising increase could put the spotlight back on the lenders.
However despite the falls this morning, Beauchamp did note the banks’ stock were “back to levels seen on Monday… so this seems like a bit of position trimming rather than a full-blown rush for the exits”.
When weighed up over the last five days, Lloyds stock was down around 0.15 per cent.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said despite the “doom and gloom, the scale of the market pullback wasn’t severe enough to suggest widespread panic”.
He added the one per cent decline for the blue-chip index was not “out of the ordinary for a one-day movement when the markets are feeling grumpy”.