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FTSE slump deepens amid escalating Covid fears
StockMarketWire.com
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The FTSE 100 saw deepening losses by lunchtime on Monday as a growing number of countries closed their doors to the UK amid concern over a new, potentially more infectious, strain of coronavirus in the country.
At midday the index was down 2.3% at 6,378.01, with retailers and travel and leisure sectors particularly badly hit.
Sterling was also sharply lower as investors weighed the latest Covid developments and the continuing limbo in Brexit talks. US futures also pointed to a lower open on Wall Street.
NatWest, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland, slumped 4% to 151p after it agreed to acquire a £3.0 billion portfolio of prime UK mortgages from challenger lender Metro Bank for £3.1 billion.
The portfolio consisted of owner occupied residential mortgages with a weighted average loan-to-value of around 60%. Metro Bank rallied 18% to 135p.
Oil major Royal Dutch Shell lost 5.7% to £12.65 as it foreshadowed net charges of between $3.5 billion and $4.5 billion in the fourth quarter, in relation to impairments, asset restructuring and onerous contracts.
Shell also said adjusted earnings at its upstream business were expected to show a loss 'in the current price environment'.
Telecom company Vodafone, meanwhile, descended 3.1% to 122.1p on announcing that discussions about a potential $2.4 billion sale of its 55% shareholding in Vodafone Egypt had been terminated.
Vodafone didn't indicate why the talks had ended, only saying it believed the Egyptian government was 'committed to an optimal framework for the telecoms sector' that would allow it to create a technology hub for growth in Africa.
Aviation services group Signature Aviation gained 1% to 372.6p after it said it was minded to back a takeover bid for the company made by private equity group Blackstone.
Blackstone Infrastructure Advisors and Blackstone Core Equity Management Associates had offered $5.17 per Signature share, equating to £3.86 in sterling and a 44% premium to the company's closing price on 16 December.
Retailing group Frasers dropped 10% to 427.4p, having pulled its earnings guidance, citing forced store closures in England due to the pandemic.
Frasers, formerly known as Sports Direct, said it could no longer commit to meeting its guidance of achieving a 20%-to-30% improvement in underlying earnings for its 2021 financial year.
Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
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