Barclays share price: Group and peers face FX rigging class action

Barclays (LON:BARC), along with RBS (LON:RBS) JPMorgan, UBS and Citigroup, is being sued by investors over forex-rigging allegations, Reuters has reported. The news comes ahead of Barclays’ half-year results on Thursday.Barclays’ share price has been little changed in London this Monday, having gained 0.34 percent to 160.62p as of 14:43 BST, underperforming the broader market rally, which has seen the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 1.98 percent higher at 7,698.87 points. The group’s shares have given up nearly 16 percent of their value over the past year, as compared with a flat Footsie.Barclays faces FX rigging class actionReuters reported that Barclays, JPMorgan, RBS, UBS and Citigroup were being sued by investors over allegations they rigged the global foreign exchange market, with a claim, estimated to be worth more than £1 billion, filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The lawsuit is being led by Michael O’Higgins, the former chairman of British watchdog the Pensions Regulator, and is being funded by litigation finance group Therium.O’Higgins told Reuters that the total value of the claim would depend on the number of forex trades executed in London for UK-domiciled units – which will be automatically included in the action – and the proportional impact of rate rigging on these.The move follows the European Commission’s decision to fine a string of lenders earlier this year over rigging the foreign-exchange market.First-half results due on ThursdayThe update comes ahead of Barclays first-half results on Thursday. Proactive Investors reports that UBS has forecast pre-tax profit of £1.3 billion for the second quarter, down from the prior year’s £1.9 billion.UBS reaffirmed the FTSE 100 lender as a ‘buy’ today, without specifying a target on the Barclays share price. According to MarketBeat, the blue-chip group currently has a consensus ‘buy’ rating and an average valuation of 210.86p.