Barclays shares ended the day 22% up as the bank confirmed it is in talks over a possible sale of its iShares fund management business. Whilst potential suitors have yet to confirm a deal, initial thoughts are that the sale could raise anything up to £5bn. (more…)

Shares in Barclays Bank led the charge south as shares fell sharply during the final hour of trading yesterday. The fall came amid fresh fears that the banking and financial sectors are going to hit new troubles. This despite Barclays cutting the wage bill by axing 4,000 jobs, ordinarily seen as a positive move by the city.

Share prices wern’t helped by the restriction on short selling being lifted. A practice seen by some as an immoral way of making a profit.

The FTSE 100 closed on Friday at 5,631.7, down 60.7 points (1.1%) amid news the US’s fifth largest bank, Bear Stearns, was in trouble and had sought emergency funding from the Federal Reserve.  Unlike with the Northern Rock debacle the Americans have acted fast to try and stop a major bank collapsing. However, the funding to prop up Bear Stearns is only for an initial period of 28 days.

Not surprisingly the UK Banks bore the brunt of the losses with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) falling 8.5 points (2.48%) to 333.75p and Barclays (BARC.L) falling 17.75p (3.94%) to 433p. The biggest loser was HBOS (HBOS.L) , tumbling a significant 34p (6.05%) to 528p. Although this is also due to speculation of further writedowns at the Bank.

The FTSE 250 reflected the fortunes of the FTSE 100, losing 1% to 9,706.1.