London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 6,991.64 in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
HSBC was under the cosh even as its third-quarter profits beat expectations, as investors reacted to shock news that chief financial officer Ewen Stevenson will be stepping down at the end of the year. He will be succeeded Georges Elhedery, co-head of global banking and markets at the bank.
AJ Bell financial analyst Danni Hewson said: “Stevenson had a good track record in his previous job helping to rehabilitate NatWest (formerly Royal Bank of Scotland) and shareholders will be disappointed not to have his steady hand at the tiller during the current turmoil.
“Stevenson’s departure may also make HSBC more vulnerable to pressure from its largest shareholder Ping An to break up the bank.
“HSBC’s fortunes are increasingly tied to China and the rest of Asia so Xi Jinping’s power grab, which has created concern in international markets, particularly if it means a continuation of hard-line zero-Covid policies, is not helpful for sentiment towards the bank.”
HSBC reported a pre-tax profit of $3.15bn for the three months to 30 September, down from $5.4bn last year, but above the $2.45bn consensus of analyst estimates compiled by the bank.
Standard Chartered was also on the back foot ahead of the release of third-quarter results on Wednesday.
On the upside, retailers B&M European Value Retail and Next were both higher following a well-received update from e-commerce group THG.
Hargreaves Lansdown was also in the black after an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ at Canaccord Genuity.
FTSE 100 – Risers
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 314.90p 2.98%
Flutter Entertainment (CDI) (FLTR) 11,045.00p 2.51%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 550.20p 2.46%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,825.00p 1.99%
SEGRO (SGRO) 759.80p 1.96%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 754.80p 1.89%
Sage Group (SGE) 729.20p 1.73%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,980.00p 1.18%
Next (NXT) 4,934.00p 1.07%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 742.20p 1.06%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 446.80p -5.96%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 544.60p -3.03%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,613.00p -2.74%
Centrica (CNA) 67.08p -2.58%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,638.00p -2.36%
Prudential (PRU) 786.80p -2.16%
Experian (EXPN) 2,697.00p -2.03%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,249.00p -1.89%
RS Group (RS1) 946.50p -1.82%
Shell (SHEL) 2,302.50p -1.81%
