London stock market opens lower on Banking share weight

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

LONDON, March 9 (Chinese media) -- The London stock market, weighed heavily down by banking and financial shares, opened lower on Monday, with the FTSE index 100 down 27. 4 points, or 0.78 percent.

HSBC, Barclays and LLoyds lead the losing shares with a 9.98, 8.49 and 7.62 percent fall respectively, following the Friday announcement that the government is to increase its stake in LLoyds to 65 percent.

The other two top five losers were Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered, each fell by over 6 percent by 9:20 GMT.

Tullow Oil, the British-based oil and gas exploration and production group, turned out to be the leading winner with a 6.8 percent rise.