Reuters: Hot Stocks: Financial stocks lead Britain's FTSE to 4th straight day of falls

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Financial stocks lead Britain's FTSE to 4th straight day of falls Jun 13th 2013, 10:53 Thu Jun 13, 2013 6:53am EDT * FTSE 100 falls 1.2 percent * RBS the biggest faller after CEO leaves * Fund managers continue losing streak as QE fears take toll * Volatility rises to its highest level this year By Alistair Smout LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - Financial stocks led British shares lower on Thursday, driven down by a slump in RBS and persistent concerns about when the U.S. Federal Reserve will start scaling back its stimulus. Royal Bank of Scotland slid 6.3 percent after the surprise exit of Chief Executive Stephen Hester, which investors said was a big loss. They added that there was no obvious successor for him. RBS shares traded 81 percent of their 90-day daily average in just under an hour's trade, against the FTSE 100's 16 percent. At 1021 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 73.13 points, or 1.2 percent, at 6,226.32, with financials taking 21.2 points off the index. Fund managers as well as banks suffered within the sector, with Aberdeen Asset Management slumping 4.1 percent and Old Mutual down 2.8 percent. Aberdeen has dropped 21 percent in the last two weeks, while Old Mutual is down 20 percent over a three-week period, following a rout in emerging markets prompted by the threat of a slowing of U.S. quantitative easing. With the market on alert for clues on the fate of the Fed's stimulus programme, investors will focus on U.S. May retail sales data and U.S. weekly jobless claims figures at 1230 GMT. Recent encouraging data from the United States has prompted fears the Fed could soon begin scaling back its bond-buying programme, which helped the FTSE 100 scale a 13-year high last month. The index has fallen around 9 percent since then as the Fed began musing upon possible exit strategies. Thursday was the FTSE 100's fourth straight day of falls, and volatility on the index - a crude measure of investor fear - hit its highest level this year. "I'm not surprised about the volatility we're seeing in the short term. If you take my three- to six-month view I am still positive on equities," said Manish Singh, head of investment services at Crossbridge Capital. "But June is going to be volatile so there will be more downside to the FTSE." (Editing by Hugh Lawson) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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