Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

London's Footsie was registering steep losses on Thursday as the index continued to retreat from the record highs reached earlier in the week, as financial and airline stocks fell sharply.Airline stocks in particular were feeling the brunt of a spike in the price of oil after Saudi Arabia launched air strikes in Yemen overnight in an effort to defeat rebel Houthi fighters from the north of that country. Brent was up 4.4% at $58.98 a barrel.By midday, the FTSE 100 had dropped 1.4% to 6,894.18.The index, which continues to pull back from the fresh all-time closing high of 7,037.67 reached on Monday, was tracking a poor performance on Wall Street the previous night after poor durable-goods data.Analyst David Madden from IG said the growing concerns over Greece's finances were to blame for the bearish morning on London's stock market."Athens has pledged to draft a set of reforms but we have yet to see any action, and this is fuelling the sell-off in London and the Eurozone. The Greek government has a history of saying one thing and doing another, and the market is becoming more impatient," he said.Economic data came in positively on Thursday morning with UK retail sales rising a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in February and German consumer confidence improving more than expected.LSEG and Easyjet dropLSEG sank 9% after Borse Dubai offloaded 60m shares in the exchange operator, equal to a 17.4% stake worth £1.5bn.Other financials such as Hargreaves Lansdown, St James's Place and Aviva were also in the red. Schroders and Prudential were registering losses after going ex-dividend, along with real estate group British Land.Oil and gas stocks, which traded higher early on, couldn't hold on to gains despite the spike in the oil price. Shell was among the fallers after doubling its planned job cuts at its North Sea operations.The jump in oil, however, was having an effect on travel stocks with Easyjet falling sharply even though it lifted its guidance for the first half. The company said it could now make a small profit in the first six months of the year, compared with previous expectations of a £10m-30m loss.Airline peers IAG, Flybe, Dart and Air Partner were also trading lower.Banks were also under the weather early on: RBS fell after confirming it expects to make at least $3.2bn from the partial sale of shares in US subsidiary Citizens, while Lloyds declined after the government sold a stake worth £569m in the lender.Costa coffee and Premier Inn owner Whitbread was also out of favour among investors as Panmure Gordon downgraded its rating on the stock from 'hold' to 'sell'. Panmure said that rising debt levels and falling returns at the leisure company now mean that the shares are "no longer a safe haven". Market MoverstechMARK 3,167.40 -1.55%FTSE 100 6,894.18 -1.38%FTSE 250 17,209.06 -1.68%FTSE 100 - RisersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,794.00p +1.47%Fresnillo (FRES) 719.50p +1.20%Centrica (CNA) 262.10p +0.73%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,907.00p +0.51%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,195.00p +0.50%BP (BP.) 450.25p +0.42%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,108.00p +0.41%Vodafone Group (VOD) 224.45p +0.09%FTSE 100 - FallersLondon Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,316.00p -8.75%Schroders (SDR) 3,176.00p -5.00%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 579.50p -4.61%ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,075.00p -4.61%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,153.00p -4.47%easyJet (EZJ) 1,812.00p -4.13%St James's Place (STJ) 940.50p -3.93%Prudential (PRU) 1,679.00p -3.62%Mondi (MNDI) 1,295.00p -3.36%Sports Direct International (SPD) 633.50p -3.21%FTSE 250 - RisersSupergroup (SGP) 987.00p +5.73%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 141.10p +1.66%Card Factory (CARD) 287.50p +1.20%Polymetal International (POLY) 575.00p +1.05%Vedanta Resources (VED) 562.50p +0.99%Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 219.10p +0.78%Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 785.00p +0.77%Home Retail Group (HOME) 170.90p +0.71%Just Eat (JE.) 390.30p +0.59%Cairn Energy (CNE) 162.80p +0.56%FTSE 250 - FallersBodycote (BOY) 715.00p -7.02%Ladbrokes (LAD) 103.40p -5.74%BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 305.90p -4.35%FirstGroup (FGP) 93.70p -4.34%Countrywide (CWD) 533.00p -4.14%Essentra (ESNT) 1,003.00p -3.93%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 849.00p -3.85%SEGRO (SGRO) 423.40p -3.79%Provident Financial (PFG) 2,689.00p -3.79%Man Group (EMG) 200.60p -3.79%