FTSE weakened on US opening despite banking gains
Gains among the banks over talk of a $10bn (£6.6bn) sale of Barclays Global Investors failed to stope the FTSE 100 from going into negative territory.
Pre-opening trades on Wall Street put paid to any FTSE gains, with the leading share index down ending the session down 14.47 points at 4348.11.
The Dow was down 1.59 points to 8329.73, retreating from porevious gains on relief that the cost of living in the US had remained unchanged in April, and Industrial production in the U.S. had fallen at the slowest pace in six months.
Barclays ended as the highest riser on the index, up 14.75p at 267.75, helping sector rivals gain some extra ground after a correction earlier in the week.
The bank was reported to be in talks over a sale of its BGI fund management arm with bidders including US money manager BlackRock.
Royal Bank of Scotland ended where it began at 39.5p and Lloyds Banking Group cheered 1.4p to 89.2p.
The big miners were also higher after recovering from a bout of recent profit taking. Vedanta Resources rose 64p to 1316p.
Land Securities continued its decline, down 16.5p to 473.5p after reporting a £4.8 billion loss earlier this week. Hammerson also fell, down 7.25p at 278.75p and British Land followed, off 5.25p at 391.75p.
In the FTSE 250, Ladbrokes fell 20p to 204.75p after the gaming group said profits were down by a third after punters enjoyed a successful Cheltenham Festival.
