Barclays and HSBC sends FTSE 100 tumbling further

HSBC (NYSE:HBC) and Barclays (LON:BARC) led the fall of UK stocks for a second day, as investors become more fearful that the economy downturn will damp earnings. In London (12.36 GMT) the FTSE 100 index tumbled 1.6 percent or 65.77 to 4,066.39. In Ireland the ISEQ Index dropped 3.4 percent. The FTSE All-Share Index fell 1.7 percent.

Within the last week Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Citigroup and JP Morgan have said they will be laying off thousands of employees, sparking fears for investors that there will be more bad news to come which has resulted in banking stocks being hit even harder.

HSBC Europe’s largest bank stocks fell 4.8 percent to 674,75 Barclays who today offered institutional investors stock reserved for Persian Gulf funds worth £500 million and announcing that they will be putting its board of directors up for election in April saw a huge decline in share value tumbling 5.4 percent to 145.8.

This year the FTSE 100 index has fallen 37 percent as credit losses and asset writedowns at financial institutions worldwide hit $965 billion and triggered the worse financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Source: Bloomberg