Another £43bn was wiped from the value of London shares today as traders continued to panic in the wake of the US terrorist attacks.
The FTSE 100 Index closed down 187.9 points at 4,755.7 at the end of one of the most traumatic weeks in the City’s history.
Shares initially hovered close to their opening mark as, for a fourth day in a row, traders were left without a lead from the US.
But the afternoon saw a major sell-off ahead of Monday’s reopening of Wall Street and from worries about the consequences of any US retaliation.
During trading, the London Stock Exchange also joined the rest of the nation and paid its respects to those who died in Tuesday’s atrocities.
British Airways was the session’s heaviest faller as investors worried about the future disruption to the airline’s services.
Shares lost another 16%, off 31p at 165p while concerns of a fall in travel also hit easyJet, down 10.5p at 301p and Ryanair, off 15p at 486.5p.
Aviation services group BBA slipped 11p to 227p, airports operator TBI was down 4.5p at 83p and BAA fell 12p to 522p.
Even oil stocks BP and Shell, which stand to benefit from disruption in the Middle East, lost earlier gains to fall 14.5p to 535.5p, and 7.5p to 496p respectively.
Telecoms and tech shares were also putting pressure on the market.
Telewest Communications, Energis, Marconi and Colt Telecom – all to be dumped from the FTSE following a slump in share values, fell.
Telewest was down 4p at 34.5p, Energis fell 6p to 52.5p and Colt Telecom was 8p lower at 159p.
Troubled telecoms equipment group Marconi slid 2.5p to 32.5p. Union leaders were today meeting executives from Marconi to discuss the wave of redundancies announced by the company and to protest at the possibility of a huge payoff to former chief executive Lord Simpson.
Among the techs, software firm Misys and computer services group CMG – which are also to be booted out of the FTSE – fell, off 12.5p to 260p and 14p to 220p respectively.
Others on the slide were computer services group Logica, off 41p to 640p while chip designer Arm was 10p lower at 245p.
Just four stocks posted gains on the FTSE, with the defensive qualities of supermarket stocks appealing to investors.
Tesco was ahead 6p at 257p ahead of its half-year results on Tuesday, Safeway gained 6.5p at 344p, and Sainsbury’s lifted 5.5p at 373.5p.
Among the smaller stocks, convenience foods group Uniq slid 32%, off 60p to 125p after issuing a profits warning, at the same time as saying its chief executive was quitting.
On a quiet day for City results, Internet skills group Transware rose 5%, or 2p, to 38.5p, after full-year profits lifted on the back of a surge in demand for IT training.
The biggest FTSE risers were Tesco, up 6p at 257p, Safeway ahead 6.5p at 344p, Sainsbury’s up 5.5p at 373.5p, and Smiths Group ahead 1.5p at 690p.
The biggest fallers were British Airways, down 31p at 165p, Celltech Group off 92p at 731p, Telewest Communications down 4p at 34.5p, and Energis off 6p at 52.5p.
EGi News 14/09/01
The Press Association
