Afternoon Markets: FTSE tumbles as Barclays fails to impress

The FTSE has fallen steadily this afternoon as investors failed to take confidence in strong Q1 results from Barclays.

At around 4pm, the index was down 1.12%, losing 62.72 points to 5,555.12.

Barclays was the biggest faller, shedding 6.35%, or 22.95p, to stand at 338.3p per share.

This was despite the bank posting a £1.82bn profit for the first three months of the financial year, up 47% on a year earlier, with most of it coming from investment banking arm Barclays Capital.

However reports suggest traders have been left disappointed by signs of slowing growth in the investment banking division.

The blue-chip banking giant took the hit after news its income from investment banking dropped markedly year-on-year to £3.8bn from £5.2bn, which overshadowed a 90% leap in underlying group profits.

Banker Lloyds also suffered, losing 2.35p per share, or 3.46%, to 65.65p a share.

Miners made up the rest of the top five losers.

Shares in Rio Tinto tumbled 4.43%, or £1.56p, to £33.76 per share, likewise Xstrata shares lost 43.50p, down 3.84%, to £10.89p a share.

Stocks in Vedanta Resources were down 3.47%, losing 91p, to £25.34 per share.

Elsewhere, the Dow Jones was also slightly down, losing 16.7 points, or 0.15%, to
11,150.62 points.