The FTSE 100 declined 0.35% in the afternoon after Moody’s decided to downgrade Ireland’s credit rating from Aa2 to Baa1. Earlier this week, the agency put Spain’s rating under review for a possible downgrade.
In other news, Standard & Poor’s upped China’s credit rating from A+ to AA- and Hong Kong’s rating from AA+ to AAA.
Software developer Autonomy Corporation (LON:AU) and commercial property company British Land (LON:BLND) led the blue chips with gains of 2.5%.
Another property company Hammerson (LON:HMSO), oil and gas engineering company Amec (LON:AMEC) and private equity group 3i (LON:III) followed, tacking on just over 2%.
Tour company TUI Travel (LON:TT) and hedge fund manager Man Group (LON:EMG) climbed 1.5%.
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) was the heaviest faller in the FTSE 100 with a 5.7% loss. Today, the company reported that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a complete response letter for the New Drug Application for ticagrelor (BRILINTA), requesting additional analyses of the PLATO data.
Moody's downgrade of Ireland hit part-nationalised banks Lloyds (LON:LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS), which declined 2.8% and 2.4% respectively.
Government services group Serco (LON:SRP) was down 1.8%.
Insurance focused investor Resolution (LON:RSL) and United Utilities (LON:UU) each shed 1.5%.
Likewise, other European markets were in selling mode today. Spain’s IBEX 35 retreated 0.5%, France’s CAC 40 shed 0.1% and Germany’s DAX declined 0.4%.
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.15% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2% and South Korea’s KOPSI surged 0.85%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.45%.
US stocks were on the rise yesterday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tacked on 0.35%, the S&P 500 index climbed 0.6% and the technology heavy NASDAQ composite rose 0.7%.
The US Labor Department said yesterday that jobless claims unexpectedly decreased by 3,000 to 420,000.
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) was the top performer in the DJIA with a 3.6% gain.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) followed, tacking on nearly 2%.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) climbed 1.6%.
American Express (NYSE:AXP) was the heaviest faller with a 3.4% loss.
No other Dow Jones constituent lost 1% or more.
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes are expected to open flat today.