By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks dropped with the rest of
Europe on Monday, erasing earlier gains as investors digested
disappointing German business-confidence numbers. Stress-tests
results of 150 European banks, although showing that most banks are
well capitalized, also failed to infuse confidence into the
market.
The FTSE 100 index dropped 0.4% to 6,364.39, after closing out
last week with a 1.2% gain. The slide came among a wider selloff in
Europe, spurred by the Ifo business-climate index for Germany
dropping to a 22-month low in October.
Bank shares fell in London, after the European Central Bank and
European Banking Authority stress-tests results were announced on
Sunday. All four U.K. banks under scrutiny passed the EBA's stress
tests, but Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) passed only narrowly.
Lloyds shares erased 2.4%, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS)
fell 1.9%. Other U.K. banks also slipped, including Barclays PLC
(BCS), which lost 1.5%, while HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC) gave up
0.7%.
Miners were also falling. Shares of Antofagasta PLC dropped
1.6%, Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) lost 0.8% and Anglo American PLC fell
0.6%.
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