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Drops of as much as 7.8 per cent were recorded by Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland as investors expressed fears that similar measures could be introduced here, Reuters reports.
As a result, the benchmark index was down 1.2 per cent at 12:04 GMT, taking it to 5,269.45 points.
The president's announcement had earlier affected stocks markets around the world, as the Dow Jones and Asian indexes were lower this morning.
BG Group and Royal Dutch Shell, two energy giants, were also down, but many mining firms bucked the trend to record climbs.
Anglo American, Eurasian Natural Resources, BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Rio Tinto all rose by between 0.2 per cent and 2.3 per cent.
Posted by Clive Arneil
