ING, Fortis fall on talk of profit warning: traders

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in banking groups ING (ING.AS) and Fortis (FOR.BR) (FOR.AS) fell sharply late on Friday on market talk of profit warnings, traders said.

Both ING and Fortis said they never comment on market speculation.

The market was also abuzz with rumors of a Fortis rights issue.

ING shares closed down 5.2 percent, while Fortis shares in Brussels closed down more than 10 percent.

A spokesman for Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said he was unaware of any problems relating to Fortis.

A banking source said that Fortis was holding a board meeting on Friday. The Fortis spokeswoman declined to confirm this.

A spokesman for ING said: "We are fully aware that we have to make a statement to the market if our financial position is materially different from that stated on 7 Nov 2007."

"On that date we gave full insight into our exposure to the subprime market."

The spokesman added ING had an ongoing 5-bln euro share buy-back program which was well underway.