By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
U.K. stocks fell Friday, locking in a weekly loss as bank stocks
came under pressure and as Greek-crisis uncertainty weighed on
European assets.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.7% to 6,585.78, with all sectors ending
lower. The benchmark fell 2.5% for the week, its worst weekly loss
since mid-December, FactSet data showed.
In the banking group, Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS.LN) fell
1.9% following a Financial Times report
(http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6a30cb4e-20d5-11e5-ab0f-6bb9974f25d0.html#axzz3eoGwNIAw)
the lender is looking at $13 billion (GBP8.32 billion) legal bill
from a U.S. Federal housing agency. The bill would resolve claims
it misled buyers of mortgage-backed securities, and the legal bill
RBS is facing is bigger than analysts had anticipated, the FT
reported.
Meanwhile, Brazil's antitrust agency said Thursday it is
investigating a number of banks
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/brazil-probes-banks-on-suspected-rate-manipulation-2015-07-02)
on suspicion they created a cartel to manipulate the exchange rate
of Brazil's currency, the real. Standard Chartered (STAN.LN) lost
2.1%, and HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.LN) (HSBA.LN) fell 0.9%.
BP PLC (BP.LN) shed 0.7%. That move sliced into a 4.4% gain
Thursday after the oil major said it would pay $18.7 billion over
18 years
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bp-to-pay-187-billion-to-settle-deepwater-claims-2015-07-02-94853311)
to settle all U.S. federal and state claims arising from the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010.
Equipment rental company Ashtead Group PLC (AHT.LN) was among
Friday's few gainers, picking up 1.4%.
U.K. and European stocks fell ahead of Sunday's referendum in
Greece, asking voters whether to say yes or no to lenders' bailout
terms for the debt-laden country. European equity indexes
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-wobble-ahead-of-greek-referendum-2015-07-03)
logged looking at sizable losses for the week, as well. Read: Know
this about Sunday's Greek referendum
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/know-this-about-sundays-greek-referendum-2015-07-03)
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires