London close: Stocks fall for fourth straight day

The FTSE 100 finished in the red for the fourth straight day on Wednesday as worries over a withdrawal of stimulus in the US and an underwhelming statement from the Bank of England (BoE) dampened sentiment.Comments from a number of Federal Reserve officials and the ongoing improvement in US economic data has added more weight behind the argument to taper quantitative easing over recent days as the US recovery gathers momentum.On this side of the Atlantic, all eyes were on new BoE Governor Mark Carney as he unveiled the central bank's quarterly Inflation Report in which he said the Bank Rate would stay at its record-low level of 0.5% and the current level of asset purchases would remain in place until at least the unemployment rate falls below 7.0%.London's benchmark index closed down 93 points, or 1.41%, at 6,511. This four-day streak in negative territory is the longest losing sequence since June, according to Senior Market Analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets. He said that "there remains no real incentive to buy at current levels when volumes are so thin and markets are near multi-week highs".Markets focus on CarneyMarkets initially jumped after the BoE statement today that tied interest-rate rises to a fall in unemployment, but the positive mood quickly faded on concerns that the recent momentum in the UK recovery could bring the jobless rate (currently at 7.8%) down a lot quicker than is estimated.This recent economic upswing was reflected in the BoE's upwardly-revised growth forecasts for this year and the next - the UK is expected to expand by 1.4% and 2.4% in 2013 and 2014, ahead of earlier estimates of 1.2% and 1.7% growth, respectively."The inability of markets to rally upon what is supposed to be equity-positive news points to either an innate weakness within the upside seen throughout the past six weeks or else a market which had already factored in a more significant statement from the BoE," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.Nevertheless, in the press conference after the statement, Carney looked to assure markets not to get ahead of themselves, saying that growth still remains below historical standards and there's still a long way to go before any monetary tightening happens.FTSE 100: TUI Travel and ex-div stocks provide a dragInvestors gave a cool reaction to third-quarter figures from TUI Travel despite the tour operator reiterating full-year guidance after an 18% jump in underlying operating profits.A number of heavyweight stocks were also weighing on the Footsie today after going ex-dividend, meaning that from today new investors won't be able to get their hands on the firms' latest payouts. Ex-div stocks today include Barclays, BG Group, BT Group, GlaxoSmithKline, Reckitt Benckiser, Reed Elsevier and Unilever.Randgold was firmly lower after a 17% drop in the average gold price during the second quarter reduced profit by 34% from the first three months of the year. Savings, investment and insurance giant Old Mutual was a standout performer today, rising strongly after half-year profits increased due to an increase in funds under management and client cash flows.Emerging markets-focused bank Standard Chartered was extending gains made yesterday after a well-received first-half report. An upgrade from Numis to 'add' was helping the stock higher today, as well as a number of other broker comments.FTSE 250: United Drug slumps despite upbeat outlookIron pellet producer Ferrexpo was the high riser on the FTSE 250 after a solid first-half report in which revenues were up 6.0% year-on-year at $775m as strong sales demand offset lower market pricing. United Drug, the provider of services to healthcare manufacturers and pharmacies, was lower despite saying that trading in the third quarter has been "strong". The company reiterated its guidance for 5-8% growth in adjusted diluted earnings per share this year.A number of stocks on the FTSE 250 also went ex-dividend today, including Dialight, Domino's Pizza, Greene King, Hiscox, Jupiter, Pennon, RPC, Synergy Health, Spirent Communications and St Modwen Properties.FTSE 100 - RisersOld Mutual (OML) 198.10p +2.91%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,593.50p +1.66%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 320.90p +1.01%Fresnillo (FRES) 932.00p +0.81%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,202.00p +0.59%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,018.00p +0.39%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,194.00p +0.34%Centrica (CNA) 392.40p +0.23%Next (NXT) 5,025.00p +0.20%Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,161.00p +0.10%FTSE 100 - FallersTUI Travel (TT.) 380.80p -5.16%Unilever (ULVR) 2,572.00p -3.96%BT Group (BT.A) 328.50p -2.98%ARM Holdings (ARM) 860.50p -2.93%easyJet (EZJ) 1,386.00p -2.87%Land Securities Group (LAND) 920.50p -2.85%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 4,590.00p -2.75%Reed Elsevier (REL) 821.00p -2.73%Persimmon (PSN) 1,247.00p -2.58%Whitbread (WTB) 3,221.00p -2.48%FTSE 250 - RisersFerrexpo (FXPO) 185.00p +13.22%Bumi (BUMI) 221.40p +3.26%Polymetal International (POLY) 652.50p +2.43%Supergroup (SGP) 1,111.00p +2.21%Cranswick (CWK) 1,159.00p +1.67%Perform Group (PER) 535.50p +1.61%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 342.50p +1.45%Regus (RGU) 188.60p +1.34%FirstGroup (FGP) 104.90p +1.16%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,544.00p +1.11%FTSE 250 - FallersGreene King (GNK) 848.50p -5.46%Savills (SVS) 630.00p -5.19%Lancashire Holdings (LRE) 765.00p -5.03%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 162.60p -4.69%Homeserve (HSV) 251.20p -4.34%United Drug (UDG) 343.70p -3.97%Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 550.50p -3.67%Carpetright (CPR) 655.00p -3.32%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 985.00p -3.15%Schroder Asia Pacific Fund (SDP) 242.00p -2.93%BC