Sector movers: RBS leads banks lower after BofA downgrade

UK-listed banks were out of favour on Monday as macro concerns weighed on investor appetite for risk; Royal Bank of Scotland was a heavy faller after being hit with a downgrade by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.The US broker lowered its rating for RBS from 'neutral' to 'underperform', cutting its price target from 345p to 325p, and also removed Lloyds (still a 'buy') from its 'Europe 1' list, saying: "A combination of share-price performance, margin dynamics and capital 'mist' push us to turn more cautious on the UK banks."BofA said that the "rejuvenation" of the UK housing market - whilst good for volumes - could put downwards pressure on banks' margins, which could peak in the first half of next year."Whilst a higher outlook for volume is encouraging, against a backdrop of flat to lower margin, the outlook is perhaps less positive than we might have hoped running into 2014."As for the capital 'mist', the broker said that there are risks that regulatory "goal posts" are at risk of moving again, sparking uncertainty about guidelines for capital ratios. "Combined with the new stress tests this may lead to dividend anxiety," it said.Lloyds was lower after frontman António Horta-Osório was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that the government's 'Help to Buy' scheme could risk creating a housing bubble if steps to build new housing are not taken.This comes as RBS reported that it had booked up 5,000 mortgage appointments with customers within just three hours of the scheme going live last week and received 10,000 calls in the first four working days.Barclays ('buy'), which is now BofA's top pick in the domestic banking sector, was also trading in the red this afternoon, along with HSBC and Standard Chartered.Top performing sectors so far todayChemicals 9,912.93 +2.54%Construction & Materials 4,265.85 +2.22%Fixed Line Telecommunications 4,047.89 +1.64%Health Care Equipment & Services 4,345.09 +1.29%Forestry & Paper 11,471.50 +1.24%Bottom performing sectors so far todayPersonal Goods 25,133.87 -1.00%Beverages 14,132.40 -0.99%Automobiles & Parts 8,388.98 -0.97%Banks 4,971.14 -0.42%Electricity 9,272.42 -0.37%BC