Trading suspended in Banca Monte dei Paschi
|Shares in the oldest bank in the world have been halted from trading in Milan this morning after Banca Monte dei Paschi's stock plummeted by 17% following a new warning over its funding woes. Banking stocks throughout Europe have been hit with a wave of selling on the back of this news but overall major benchmarks are little changed with the FTSE 100 only marginally lower by 5 points. The pound is coming under some pressure this morning and is currently lower against all its major peers.
Italian banks remain a cause for concern
News of problems with banks in Italy isn't a fresh concern with several lenders having struggled for a long time now. The latest development regarding Banca Monte dei Paschi still comes as something of an unexpected shock though, with shareholders having hoped that the worst of it was behind them. The European Central Bank has set a deadline of the end of the year for the bank to raise $5bn from investors and this morning's statement that the lender would run out of money within four months unless recapitalisation efforts were successful has triggered the latest spate of selling. With Barclays stock lower by just over half a percent it is tempting to attribute the decline due to the news out of Italy, but with Lloyds pretty much flat on the day and RBS showing a notable gain there doesn't appear to be any sector wide weakness for UK banks today. Mining stocks on the whole are showing some weakness though with Rio Tinto and Anglo American both off by over a percent.
Holidays are coming
The best performing stock on the FTSE 100 is Coca-Cola HBC with the share price gaining more than 1% in early trade. Coca-Cola has long been associated with Christmas time and whilst the myth that Father Christmas wears red due to the drinks company is actually not true, the advertising of the firm from the 1930s onwards has played a significant role in shaping the big, jolly Santa character we know today. Randgold Resources is also enjoying a strong up day as the stock looks to end a roller coaster year with a climb.
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