FTSE 100 Slips On Widespread Selling

(RTTNews) - U.K. stock market's benchmark index FTSE 100 fell sharply Wednesday morning as oil prices and bond yields climbed higher amid rising Middle East tensions and triggered worries about inflation and monetary tightening by central banks.

Brent crude futures rose to $79.26 a barrel, before dropping to $78.10, still up nearly 4% from previous close.

The FTSE 100 was down 143.10 points or 1.34% at 10,522.78 a few minutes past noon.

Selling was so widespread that only BP (up 3.4%), Shell (up 2%), Centrica (up 0.6%), Admiral Group (up 0.3%) and Tesco (up marginally) made it to positive territory this morning.

Bank stocks Standard Chartered, Barclays, Natwest Group and Lloyds Banking Group shed 2.3%-3.5%.

Miners Endeavour Mining, Antofagasta, Fresnillo, Tio Tinto and Anglo American Plc lost 3.4%-4.4%.

Babcock International, IAG, Barratt Redrow, Persimmon, Kingfisher, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Howden Joinery Group, Games Workshop, Convatec Group, The Sage Group, Computacenter and Melrose Industries lost 3%-4.7%.

Reckitt Benckiser, Land Securities, Burberry Group, British Land Co., Smiths Group, JD Sports Fashion and Weir Group also declined sharply.

IG Group Holdings tumbled 2.7% after the British online trading firm announced a proposal to establish a new holding company in Jersey.

Vistry plummeted 10% after the housebuilder warned of a first-half loss and outlined plans to slim its business. The stock recovered a bit subsequently and was down 6% a little while ago.

Student accommodation provider Unite Group declined 2% after saying it expects its annual rental growth to be slightly down on previous expectations.

Developer and investor Hammerson dropped 3.7% as it announced the sale of £69m of non-core assets.