FTSE 100 down nearly £100bn in four days as City’s Brexit fears mount

THE FTSE 100’s slide continued for a fourth day yesterday, with nearly £100bn wiped off the value of the leading companies in less than a week. 

Nervousness around the strengthening performance of the Leave campaign in the polls has hit the share price of the country’s largest listed companies ahead of next week’s referendum.

The index finished at 6,302 last Wednesday night but fell to 5,924 at last night’s close – reaching its lowest level since February 25.

Just one of the 100 companies ended the day up, as Ashtead was boosted by investors’ reactions to its full-year results.

The other 99 fell, with housebuilders and banks among the worst affected.

Equities were firmly down as concerns over Brexit intensified as support for ‘Leave’ ahead of the EU referendum continued to gather momentum and UK inflation remained depressed in May and came in short of expectations,” said  AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

Speaking yesterday, Mihir Kapadia, chief executive at Sun Global Investments, added: “The risk of a potential Brexit is dominating global markets today as we enter the home straight towards the influential EU referendum vote on 23 June.

“Investors seem to have suddenly woken up to Brexit risk and  have become nervous, most having their attention focused firmly on upcoming key events such as the referendum, today’s Fed and tomorrow’s BOJ and BOE meetings.”