By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks dipped Friday, with shares
of insurance firms selling off on plans of an investigation by the
U.K. Financial Conduct Authority into older pensions and savings
plans.
Insurers were the worst-performing stocks, slumping following
reports of the probe, which is investigating whether consumers who
were sold pensions and savings plans before 2000 are being treated
unfairly compared with newer clients, including facing costlier
fees.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost grip of earlier gains and slipped
nearly 3 points to 6,586.31. The index has been up by as much as
0.7% during the session.
On Friday, shares of Resolution Ltd. plunged 15%, Aviva PLC slid
7.8%, Legal & General Group PLC lost 7.1% and Standard Life PLC
fell 4.3%. Also, Prudential PLC gave up 4.9%.
Insurance stocks saw heavy losses recently after U.K finance
minister George Osborne, as part of his annual budget, announced
plans to end a rule that required pension funds to be used to buy
annuities, a key portion of business for some insurance
companies.
Commodity producers, meanwhile, held to higher ground, with
energy issues up after oil futures (CLK4) extended their rise above
$101-a-barrel level. BP PLC (BP) tacked on 0.8% and Royal Dutch
Shell PLC rose 0.6%.
On the economic front, the Office for National Statistics said
gross domestic product in the U.K. in 2013 expanded by 1.7%, lower
than a previous estimate of 1.8%. The growth rate of 0.7% for the
fourth quarter was unrevised.
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