A late rally drove the Footsie back above the 5,400 mark, but the blue chip index still finished 0.71% down after Fitch dampened sentiment in the banking sector.Not helping the mood was the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which lowered its growth forecasts for Asia for this year and next. The reduced forecasts come amid worries over economic growth in Europe and the US, two key export markets for Asian countries. The IMF now sees Asia growing 6.25% this year and 6.75% next year, having earlier this year predicted gross domestic product (GDP) growth of close to 7% in both years. Other economic news in the region was a little worrying as well. Chinese exports rose 17.1% from year earlier in September, a growth rate which would please most nations, but which was below market expectations. Imports were 20.9% higher than a year earlier, and this rate of improvement was also less than anticipated. Closer to home, Bank of England monetary policy committee member Charles Bean said in an interview with the Guardian that if necessary, the monetary authority is prepared to carry out further quantitative easing, adding that the latest £75bn round of asset purchases will help sustain demand. Meanwhile, the UK's trade deficit narrowed to £1.9bn, according to the Office for National Statistics, down from £2.3bn the month before. Goods export volumes fell by 1.3% and imports fell by 0.1% in August. Barclays Capital does not see this narrowing in the deficit being sustained, saying "If the goods deficit remains at this level during September as well, we estimate it will subtract 0.1 percentage point from quarter-on-quarter GDP growth in Q3, although we still expect overall trade, including services, to make a small positive contribution." BANKS PROVIDE A DRAG, ROLLS-ROYCE BUCKS TRENDRolls-Royce bucked the downward trend, rising 10% as investors digested its late announcement on Wednesday that revealed two major initiatives which are expected to significantly raise its operating profits in the future.It plans to sell its 32.5% stake in the business which produces the V2500 engine for the A320 Airbus for $1.5bn, in addition to further payments for every hour IAE engines are flown over the next 15 years. Furthermore, the company unveiled a new partnership with Pratt & Whitney (a United Technologies Corp company) to develop engines to power future mid-size aircraft which hold between 120 and 230 passengers. Evolution Securities analyst Guy Brown estimates that this is 28% higher than the broker's divisional forecast and 12% higher than predictions for group profits. However, it was the heavyweight banking sector which dragged the FTSE 100 lower, after ratings agency Fitch confirmed speculation and cut ratings across the UK banking sector. The agency downgraded its ratings for part-nationalised lenders Lloyds and RBS - who were already downgraded by Moody's last week - from AA- to A, causing both stocks to sink in the afternoon. Barclays, while holding on to its AA- rating, was also under the cosh after the agency placed the firm on negative watch. The three stocks were the worst performers on the blue chip index, losing over 6%.The miners too were out of favour, tracking metals prices lower. By the close, copper was down 2.5%, gold fell 1.3% while silver dropped 3.5%. Sector peers Antofagasta, Kazakhmys and Vedanta were at least 5% lower.Rio Tinto fell 2.8% but performed relatively well compared to the other miners after setting new quarterly records for iron ore sales and hard coking coal production in the third quarter.Wealth management and stockbroking giant Hargreaves Lansdown rose strongly after operating revenue rose 27% in the quarter ended 30 September, which chief executive Ian Gorham labelled as a pleasing start to the year.On the FTSE 250, shares of precision tool maker Renishaw took a dive after the firm admitted that revenue growth in the three months ended 30 September was lower than planned and Mitchells & Butlers was lower after the its biggest shareholder, billionaire Joe Lewis's investment group, withdrew its offer for the pub group behind O' Neills and All Bar One. BCFTSE 100 - RisersRolls-Royce Group (RR.) 688.00p +9.90%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 500.00p +3.93%Glencore International (GLEN) 435.70p +2.41%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,814.00p +2.29%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 637.00p +2.00%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,021.00p +1.61%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,360.00p +1.27%Meggitt (MGGT) 361.60p +1.26%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,088.00p +1.21%ITV (ITV) 64.35p +1.10%FTSE 100 - FallersBarclays (BARC) 173.20p -7.38%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 24.16p -6.39%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,078.00p -6.34%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,628.00p -5.79%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 878.50p -5.74%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 34.26p -5.48%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,199.00p -5.07%Anglo American (AAL) 2,305.50p -4.73%Lonmin (LMI) 1,081.00p -4.25%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 318.00p -4.04%
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