With Hurricane Sandy hitting the shores on the east coast of America on Monday, the insurance sector was unsurprisingly the worst performing category of the day in London, with the latest estimates of the storm's damage being in the tens of billions of dollars.

Sandy, dubbed as 'Frankenstorm', is expected to reach the Mid-Atlantic state of New Jersey later this evening, prompting the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to close for today and possibly also tomorrow.

NYSE, the firm which operates the largest of America's trading venues, issued a statement explaining that it supports the consensus of the markets and the regulatory community that "the dangerous conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely difficult to ensure the safety of our people and communities, and safety must be our first priority".

There will be gusts of wind as strong as 70 miles (113 kilometers) per hour as far north as Maine to North Carolina in the south and as far west as Ohio, according to the National Weather Service. Some analysts put the total costs for the projected damages at approximately $18bn. Nevertheless, such estimates are likely to vary considerably in the coming days.

Insurance stocks in the UK were battered by the news, with Admiral, Amlin, Hiscox, Beazley and Jardine Lloyd Thompson all trading in the red before the close.


Top performing sectors so far today
Technology Hardware & Equipment 850.46 +1.43%
Personal Goods 18,487.67 +0.96%
Industrial Engineering 7,463.56 +0.94%
Software & Computer Services 887.53 +0.88%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,152.76 +0.82%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Insurance (non-life) 1,553.87 -1.36%
Fixed Line Telecommunications 2,540.74 -1.25%
Industrial Transportation 2,343.18 -1.22%
Industrial Metals & Mining 2,555.47 -0.70%
Forestry & Paper 7,189.88 -0.60%

BC

Related share prices
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) share price
Amlin (AML) share price
Hiscox Ltd (HSX) share price
Beazley (BEZ) share price
Admiral Group (ADM) share price