NORTHERN ROCK SHARES HALTED
September 17th, 2007Can’t sell your Northern Rock shares? Try again later.
Via: Reuters:
Shares of Northern Rock PLC, one of Britain’s largest mortgage lenders, tumbled another 30 percent Monday as customers, driven by fears of insolvency, made a run on the bank and withdrew billions.
Treasury Secretary Alistair Darling sought to assure depositors that their money was safe, even as former U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan warned of difficulties ahead in Britain’s booming housing market.
Trading in the bank’s shares was briefly suspended Monday morning, but not before they tumbled 140 pence to 298 pence ($2.81 to $5.98), on top of a 31 percent fall Friday. By late morning, shares hovered around 300 pence.
Northern Rock, Britain’s fifth-largest mortgage lender, disclosed on Friday that it had received emergency funding from the Bank of England after other banks balked at loaning it cash in the wholesale money markets.
