FTSE 100 OPEN: Barclays slips after Diamond resigns

3 July 2012 | By fundweb staff

Diamond announced he would be stepping down due to “external pressures” which could damage the franchise. The Barclays chief executive has been under increased pressure to step down since the bank was handed a record fine over manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor),

The bank saw its share price slip by 2.6% to 164p early on (At 0804 BST). It was joined at the bottom by peers Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Lloyds Banking Group, falling 1.1% to 216.5p and 0.7% to 31.28p, respectively.

An investigation into the Libor scandal is to be launched and the Serious Fraud Office is considering a criminal prosecution.

Also at the foot of the table early on was Aberdeen Asset Management, dropping 2.5% to 258p, and utiilities company Severn Trent, which fell 0.8% to 1,648p.

The biggest climber was engineer Meggitt, which increased by 3.5% to 402p (at 0802 BST). Vedanta Reources climbed 2.4% to 927.5p, while steelmaker Evraz rose 2.2% to 264.3p.

Oil & gas services company Petrofac increased by 2.1% to 1,467p, while property investor British Land rose 0.9% to 523.5p.

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