Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

The upcoming all-important policy decision by the Federal Reserve prompted an element of caution on stock markets across Europe on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 pulling back from a six-week high.Banking stocks were among the notable fallers in London with Lloyds sinking after the government placed a 6% stake at a 3.1% discount to yesterday's closing price.The FTSE 100 was registering moderate losses in morning trade, retreating from Monday's close of 6,622.86 - this was the best close for the UK's benchmark index since August 2nd, when it finished the day at 6,647.87. Meanwhile, the STOXX Europe 600 index was pulling back after closing at its highest level since June 2008.The two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting which concludes tomorrow afternoon will be one of the most closely-watched US policy decisions in recent years, given rising expectations that policymakers will begin to scale back quantitative easing. The Fed is widely expected to start by tapering its monthly asset purchases by around $10-15bn from the current level of $85bn, with forecasts being pared slightly over the last month given recent mixed economic data including August's disappointing jobs report.Markets across the globe gained on Monday after the announcement by well-known hawk Larry Summers that he has dropped out of the race to take over Ben Bernanke's position as Fed Chairman when he steps down in January. Analysts believe that Summers would have tightened policy more aggressively than Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen, who is now regarded as the firm favourite to succeed Bernanke.Downside to shares prices was limited this morning by improving data from the Eurozone as economic expectations increased "considerably" this month, according to the latest figures from ZEW. German economic sentiment jumped 7.6 points in September to 49.6, beating the consensus estimate of 46. Meanwhile, the respective indicator for the wider Eurozone rose 12.3 to 30.6.Meanwhile, the annual rise in UK consumer prices eased from 2.8% to 2.7% in August as expected.FTSE 100: Lloyds falls as government begins stake saleBanking group Lloyds was in the red this morning after the UK Financial Investments sold a 6% stake in the bank for £3.2bn, reducing its shareholding from about 38.7% to approximately 32.7%. The Treasury sold 4.3bn shares at a price of 75p each. Part-nationalised peer RBS was also lower early on.Barclays was also lower after it was reported yesterday that it is facing a £50m fine for allegedly breaching market listing rules over its capital raisings. The bank also said that its adjusted income for July and August was lower than in the same period of the previous year, resulting in a 5% year-on-year decline in adjusted income for the eight-month period to August 31st.Mining group Glencore Xstrata was being weighed down by UBS which lowered its rating from 'buy' to 'neutral', saying that a "challenging" price outlook will cap share-price performance. Sector peer Randgold however rose as gold prices rebounded after hitting a five-week low the day before.Deutsche Bank has raised its target price for distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl by 22.9% from 1,160p to 1,426p to include the benefit of potential merger & acquisition (M&A) activity, causing shares to lift this morning.FTSE 250: Investec drops after disappointing updateInvestec shares took a hit after the group warned about the performance of its global Specialist Banking and Australian businesses. The investment bank and asset manager said the business is expected to report half-year results behind the prior year after the Australian business was negatively affected by significant strategic restructuring and the UK Specialist Banking business was hit by low levels of activity.Travel stocks were performing well after upbeat comments on the UK bus and rail markets from JPMorgan Cazenove. The US bank raised its ratings for both Go-Ahead and Stagecoach from 'neutral' to 'overweight'.Debenhams rose after saying it expects annual pre-tax profit in line with market forecasts on the back of growth in market share and like-for-like sales. Domino Printing fell after it warned that market conditions have continued to remain "difficult" in many regions, and in some areas it has seen signs of possible deterioration. FTSE 100 - RisersSevern Trent (SVT) 1,818.00p +3.41%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,599.00p +2.52%United Utilities Group (UU.) 703.50p +2.33%Reed Elsevier (REL) 832.00p +1.59%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,059.00p +1.34%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 824.50p +1.17%Croda International (CRDA) 2,678.00p +1.06%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,619.00p +1.06%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 217.50p +0.93%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,385.00p +0.87%FTSE 100 - FallersAggreko (AGK) 1,582.00p -4.06%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 332.90p -2.63%Barclays (BARC) 297.90p -2.46%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 75.49p -2.42%Whitbread (WTB) 3,069.00p -1.98%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,162.00p -1.78%Aviva (AV.) 412.70p -1.69%Standard Life (SL.) 348.90p -1.47%Meggitt (MGGT) 556.50p -1.33%William Hill (WMH) 426.00p -1.21%FTSE 250 - RisersSalamander Energy (SMDR) 130.80p +4.81%Bumi (BUMI) 217.00p +3.58%Beazley (BEZ) 222.70p +2.91%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 148.00p +2.85%ICAP (IAP) 420.90p +2.56%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 296.10p +2.10%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 337.10p +2.06%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,596.00p +1.92%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 603.00p +1.43%Ladbrokes (LAD) 204.20p +1.24%FTSE 250 - FallersInvestec (INVP) 422.30p -4.44%Alent (ALNT) 368.60p -3.76%Spectris (SXS) 2,219.00p -3.40%Vesuvius (VSVS) 470.30p -3.39%Home Retail Group (HOME) 169.50p -3.20%Evraz (EVR) 135.70p -3.00%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 26.81p -2.90%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 654.50p -2.82%Restaurant Group (RTN) 557.00p -2.71%Telecity Group (TCY) 817.50p -2.62%BC