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FTSE 100 plummets nearly 100 points as eyes turn to US jobs report

Published: 22:06 01 Aug 2014 AEST

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FTSE100 was tanking at the midday point with the premier index down nearly 100% as macro factors, geopolitical concerns and unease about the later US jobs number weighed on sentiment.

Among the fallers was taxpayer owned banking giant RBS (LON:RBS), whose results statement this morning failed to impress, even though the stock rallied last week when the numbers were released a week early.

Dominating headlines was RBS's unease about a 'yes' vote in the Scottish referendum, which could lead to increased costs and a material impact, it said.

Shares fell 2.50% in RBS, as City broker Investec also downgraded the stock to 'sell'.

Footsie overall was in negative territory at the time of writing - down around 98 to 6,631. 

Other losers included big cap miner Randgold Resources (LON:RRS), which eased 3.24% on a day when only eight Footsie members had shares not in the red.

Adding to the pain was news UK manufacturing activity slowed last month, adding to the argument that the recovery might not be so convincing as all that.

Across the pond, where shares ended yesterday well down, eyes are trained on the non-farm payroll numbers later.

The number of jobs added in the US is expected to be 231,000 last month (July) down from the June figure but still adding to general worries that the Fed could tighten monetary policy soon.

The junior market was also downbeat. FTSE AIM All share lost 6.20 to around 762, while FTSE AIM 100 shed over 41 points to 3260.

One of the big small cap gainers was Northcote Energy (LON:NCT), which advanced 8.64% after it and MX Oil agreed a partnership to pursue opportunities in Mexico’s upstream oil and gas industry.

A 10-year tie up gives Northcote the right to participate with MX Oil in any of its projects in Mexico, with the AIM quoted firm taking up to 20% interest. It will apply to projects involving the drilling, exploration, development or production of oil and gas.

Northcote will also be given warrants for MX shares – 30mln exercisable at 2p each and 15mln exercisable at 3p – and it has the right to appoint a director to the MX board.#

Gulfsands Petroleum (LON:GPX) was up nearly 7% on Friday after rallying yesterday after  announcing a successful result at the Lalla Yetou Updip-1 (LTU-1) well in the Rharb Centre permit in Morocco.

The well was the first to be drilled following the group's interpretation of seismic in the recently completed Rharb 3D seismic programme.

The well flowed at an estimated rate of 6.6mln cubic feet per day without producing formation water, the company told investors.

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