Morning markets: Financials fail to stem FTSE fall

Financials rose this morning, but could not prevent the FTSE falling 0.2%, or 8.8 points to 5475.28.

Four companies that went ex-dividend were among the steepest fallers. RSA Insurance Group, yielding 10.6%, fell 4.3% to 124.6p while Hammerson, yielding 3.9%, dropped 1.3% to 397p. Diageo, whose shares yield 4.7% but also went ex-dividend, dropped by 1.6% to £10.80, while BHP Billiton fell 1.4% to £20.87. Financials, however, defied the broader market's fall. Reports Prudential hedged out the currency risk of its pending purchase of AIG's Asian operations sent its shares up 1.5% to 494.8p, although they had dropped 20% since the deal was announced earlier this week. Lloyds Banking ...