Insurance sector hit by Japan quake but FTSE claws back

Insurance stocks worldwide took a big hit today in anticipation of lower future payouts following the huge earthquake and tsunami which hit Japan overnight.

In London, Prudential fell by 2.18%, RSA Insurance dropped 2.12%, Aviva fell  1.28% while Admiral slumped 1.60%.  In Frankfurt, insurers Munich Re fell by 5.2%, while Allianz fell by 2.5% and Swiss Re and Hannover Re were also down by more than 4%. "News of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan have sent insurers such as Royal & Sun Alliance and Aviva down a couple of percent as investors remain risk averse," says David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index. However, the FTSE 100 recovered slightly from its early morning slump of 0.8% with the blue chip index only down 0.23% by ...