By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks briefly hit an all-time high
on Monday, but fell as shares of HSBC Holdings PLC pushed lower
after the banking heavyweight released financial results.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 1 point to 6,914.92. It had
opened higher and briefly surpassed its previous all-time record
high of 6,930.20.
But the FTSE 100 then felt the weight of shares of HSBC (HSBC),
which dropped 3.2% after the company said its fiscal-year 2014
pretax profit was down 17% to $18.68 billion. Net profit slid to
$13.7 billion, from $16.2 billion a year ago, as the bank was hit
with higher costs and provisions for misconduct
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hsbc-posts-fall-in-profit-2015-02-23-3485413).
Ahead of the release of the results, the bank in a statement
acknowledged that Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver holds a Swiss
account
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hsbc-chief-hit-with-tax-avoidance-scandal-2015-02-23)
through a Panamanian company. The statement followed a report from
The Guardian newspaper that Gulliver held around GBP5 million ($7.7
million) in a Swiss account, and is domiciled in Hong Kong for tax
and legal reasons. The report comes as HSBC has been dealing with
allegations it has aided clients in dodging taxes through its Swiss
unit.
But other banking stocks on the FTSE 100 held to higher ground,
with Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC up 0.5% and Barclays PLC up
0.9%.
Also pressuring the FTSE 100 were energy and mining shares, with
miner Anglo-American PLC lower by 1.7%.
But on the upside were shares of Associated British Foods PLC .
They rose 0.6% after the ingredients maker and parent company of
retailer Primark said underlying trading remains in line with
expectations
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/primark-parent-ab-foods-trading-in-line-with-view-2015-02-23).
It also continues to expect a marginal decline in per-share
adjusted earnings for the full year.
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