The London equities markets were lower on Monday as banks dropped, with the FTSE 100 down by 0.55 percent to 6,098.7 and the FTSE 250 falling 0.2 percent to 9,949.2.
Alliance & Leicester was down 2.25 percent to £11.28 when a bid that had been in the rumor mill last week was not forthcoming. HBOS was down 1.65 percent to 952p and Lloyds TSB dropped by 1.6 percent to 522p on worries surrounding the domestic mortgage market.
Insurer Prudential dropped 3 percent to 637½p when Morgan Stanley placed 2.25 million shares, nearly 1 percent of the company’s stocks at 642p.
Another loser was GCap Media, down 2.86 percent to 255p on profit-taking after a gain of 19 percent last week.
Imperial Tobacco held steady at £17.60 as it was reported that it has hired two banks to advise it on a possible bid for Franco-Spanish tobacco company Altadis.
Among gainers, EMI added 5.66 percent to 294p after rumors over the weekend that it is ready to resume talks with US company Warner Music concerning a possible merger. Traders were inclined to believe the rumors, but say that there are many details to be settled before a deal can be reached, not the least of which are who will run the new company and where it will be listed.
One of the biggest gainers on the FTSE 250 for the day was drilling contractor Abbot Group, which added 5.26 percent to 340p, its highest share price ever, primarily on its newest acquisition, Songa Drilling.