Banking stocks weigh on FTSE as markets start week lower

Banking stocks continued to pull back the FTSE 100 on Monday, as the losses announced by Lloyds Banking Group last week continued to dog the group and its peers.

Lloyds' results on Friday revealed a £570m loss for 2012, causing its shares to plummet 5.7% to 51.37p. They recovered some of the losses later in the day to close at 53.25p, but fell another 3.6% on Monday to 51.32p, as investors continue to take profits. Peer Royal Bank of Scotland, which reported a loss of £5.2bn for 2012 last week, also continued to fall on Monday. Having closed at 314p on Friday from highs of 344.7p in early trading on Thursday, the bank's shares lost another 2% on Monday, down to 307.77p. Investors continued to take profit after a stellar run for the banks...