Stocks in London ended in the red on Friday, hit by a lack of rapid progress towards full banking union at a key EU summit.
The benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading companies closed 0.35 percent lower at 5,896.15 points.
“t seems investors are becoming frustrated with the continuous proposals outlined by EU policy makers to resolve the debt crisis but failing to provide investors with specific information regarding how the fund will operate, the time scale involved and perhaps more crucially, how much funds will be needed,” Shavaz Dhalla, a financial trader at Spreadex said.
In Brussels, EU leaders agreed to police thousands of eurozone banks beginning next year as they sought to boost growth in their austerity-battered economies and create much-needed jobs.
By the close of a two-day summit, France and Germany had patched up differences over how to beat the debt crisis, although the new watchdog for 6,000 banks will come too late to re-float Spanish lenders via a dedicated rescue fund.
Leaders also hailed a 120-billion-euro ($155-billion) package of measures to try and kickstart a climb out of recession as social and political unrest hits Greece and Spain.
After an 11-hour session into the wee hours to reach the bank supervision deal, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was not about “trying to bargain for extra days or months,” but rather ensuring a “solid legal framework” could be found by year-end.
French President Francois Hollande said the summit outcome was “a good deal” but he resisted a German push to change the EU treaty next year after a December summit that is meant to nail down “concrete” moves to tighten centralisation of economic policy.
Back in London, Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) shares were the most traded, with 268 million units changing hands, followed by Vodafone Group with 72.51 million.
Johnson Matthey was the biggest gainer, rising 1.84 percent — or 42 pence — to 2329, followed by Hammerson which climbed 1.53 percent — or 7.30 pence — to 483.4.
The day’s worst performer was Aggreko , losing 7.17 percent — or 165 pence — to close at 2137 on profit warning, followed by Evraz which shed 4.09 percent — or 10.60 pence — to 248.3.
On the currency markets, the pound slipped to $1.6008 at 5:10 pm from $1.6044 at the same time Thursday, and crept up to 1.2289 euros from 1.2279 between the same times.
FTSE closes lower
