Business News

LONDON , (APP/AFP) – European stock markets
and the British pound plunged at the start of trading Friday after Britain voted to leave the European Union, with banking stocks leading the way down.
London’s FTSE-100 index was down 5.0 percent around 0745 GMT off earlier lows with banking stocks Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds all losing close to a quarter of their market value.
“The British people have voted against the economic warnings of the
overwhelming majority of expert economic opinion. Not surprisingly, this
morning the referendum result has sent shockwaves through global financial
markets,” said Daniel Vernazza, economist at UniCredit Research.
In the eurozone, the damage was even greater, with the Paris CAC-40 index falling by over 10 percent. Financials BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole plunged by 17 percent, while Societe Generale dropped 21 percent.
The Frankfurt DAX index also dropped by over 10 percent at one point,
before recovering somewhat to a 8.7-percent decline. Banking stocks Deutsche
Bank and Commerzbank both plummeted by over 16 percent.
Among smaller European exchanges, Madrid fell nearly 12 percent, Athens by 15 percent, Amsterdam nearly 9 percent, Prague 10 percent and Warsaw by nearly 8 percent.