FTSE hit by concerns about Scottish poll

European stocks slid for a second day as investors weighed equity valuations and UK shares fell on concerns that Scotland may vote for independence.

National benchmark indexes slid in 11 of the 18 western-European markets. France’s CAC 40 Index lost 0.3 per cent, while Germany’s DAX Index added 0.1 per cent. In Ireland, the Iseq lost 1.1 per cent on what traders described as “light volumes”.

DUBLIN

Ryanair lost 0.9 per cent having announced an order for up to 200 new Boeing 737 Max aircraft worth $22 billion at current list prices. This is designed to increase passenger numbers to 150 million by 2024.

Property investor Green Reit closed down 0.8 per cent in spite of what were considered good full-year results, posting a net profit of €43.1 million, with earnings per share of 12.4 cents. It also said it had "further headroom" to invest €322 million in new opportunities.

Fruit importer Fyffes gained 2.1 per cent, at 98 cents, after it confirmed its intention to adjourn a shareholder meeting slated for September 17th relating to its proposed merger with New York-listed Chiquita Brands International.

Fyffes has granted Chiquita a waiver to its agreement that now permits Chiquita to enter discussions with the Cutrale Group and the Safra Group about an alternative deal.

LONDON UK stocks fell, dragged by financial companies, after a poll showed for the first time that a majority of voters favour independence for Scotland.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, the UK banks that lend the most in Scotland, dropped more than 1.3 per cent each. .

The FTSE 100 Index slipped 20.33 points, or 0.3 per cent, at the close in London.

The decline in RBS and Lloyds helped send a gauge of banks in the FTSE 350 Index down 0.4 per cent. RBS dropped 1.3 per cent, to 342.5 pence, and Lloyds retreated 2.4 per cent, to 72.2 pence. Insurer Standard Life, based in Edinburgh, lost 2.4 per cent, to 406.4 pence.

EUROPE

Oil and gas producers posted the second-biggest loss of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. The Stoxx 600 retreated 0.4 per cent at the close of trading, after earlier losing as much as 1 per cent.

The Stoxx 600 climbed 1.6 per cent last week, touching a two-month high after the European Central Bank cut all three of its main interest rates and said it would start buying securitised debt. The gauge trades at 15.5 times the projected earnings of its members, near its highest since 2009 and up from 14.7 a month ago.

Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, lost 1.4 per cent to €30.40.

Electrolux rose 5.1 per cent to 197.10 kronor – its highest price since at least 1989 – after buying General Electric's appliances unit. The world's second- biggest appliance maker was paying $3.3 billion for the division, according to a statement yesterday. It plans to carry out a rights offering for about 25 per cent of the price to be paid, upon completion of the deal.

NEW YORK

The Dow and S&P 500 were down slightly in early afternoon trading amid a drop in energy shares, while the Nasdaq was edging higher.

Exxon Mobil lost 1.2 per cent, while the S&P energy index was down 1.6 per cent, the day's worst-performing sector as oil prices decline.

Tech shares rose, including Yahoo, up 2.6 per cent, and the Nasdaq's most active name in anticipation of Alibaba Group's initial public offering. Yahoo has a 22.4 per cent stake in Alibaba and is required to sell 140 million Alibaba shares in the IPO.

The largest percentage gainer in New York was Silver Spring Networks, up 9.55 per cent, while the largest percentage decliner was Coupons. com, down 9.06 per cent.

Among the most active stocks on the NYSE were Brazil's Petrobras, down 2.68 per cent to $18.86, and Ford, down 2.21 per cent to $16.76. – (Additional reporting by Bloomberg and Reuters)