The London market was suffering another gloomy session today, hit by more bad news from the US and a statement from telecoms firm Spirent that the slowdown would depress second half performance.
After an hour trading, the FTSE 100 Index was off 7.1 points at 5,410.5.
Sentiment was hurt by another sharp fall on Wall Street after GDP figures in America showed economic growth slumped, and just avoided going into negative figures.
Spirent was the largest FTSE faller, off 12%, or 16p, at 124p, after saying second-half performance would be depressed by tough conditions.
The group also announced plans to slash costs by cutting global staff numbers by 500. Under-pressure Marconi also fell further, off a penny to 58.5p.
Tech shares slipped, with chip designer Arm off 11p at 292p, computer services group CMG down 9p at 253p, Logica off 12.5p at 706p and software group Misys down 6p at 330p.
However, there were some rays of hope in the market, with business services group Rentokil Initial jumping 6% after reporting results in line and saying it was upbeat about its future.
In a busy day for corporate results, Hilton Group also gained, rising 1.5p to 243.5p after reporting a rise in half-year profits.
EGi News 30/08/01
