Morning Markets: Lloyds cash call rumours drag FTSE

Lloyds Banking Group is among the fallers in early trading on Wednesday on rumours it is close to securing a deal that will see some of its bad loans insured under the Government’s asset insurance scheme.

The banking giant has dropped over 5% to 100.48p, dragging the FTSE down more than 28 points, or 0.59%, to 4,791.

Financials and miners are having the biggest bearing on the index. Legal & General and Royal Bank of Scotland Group are also among the worst performing stocks.

Miners Kazakhmys, down 4.46% to 911p, and Antofagasta, down 4.15% to 705p, were also among the poor performers.

Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones was also hit by financials, closing down almost 2%, or more than 185 points, at 9,310.6.

Bank of America, down 6.42% to $16.46, American Express (5.44% to $31.98) and JPMorgan Chase (4.12% to $41.67) were the bottom three performers.