Banking shares fall nearly 30% for second day in a rowRBS sell-off: George Osborne defends £1bn lossUK construction growth slows unexpectedly 9.33am BST Growth in the UK’s construction industry slowed unexpectedly in July due to weaker housebuilding and civil engineering.The Markit/CIPS Uk construction purchasing managers’ index fell to 57.1 after hitting a four-month high of 58.1 in June. This wrongfooted economists who had expected activity to improve to 58.4. 9.22am BST Some non-financial stocks are rising in Athens, such as gaming group OPAP, up 3.5% and energy infrastructure group Metka, up 8.4%. The Athens bourse is now down 3.4%, dragged down by heavy losses in banking shares.Following yesterday’s massive sell-off, there was significant dislocation in share valuations which triggered investors’ interest in high-quality, non-financial stocks. Continue reading...