Heavy falls on Wall Street overnight helped pull the London market lower this morning.
Jitters ahead of the first-quarter earnings season in the US meant both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-laden Nasdaq closed down last night, with the Dow losing a massive 146 points.
The downbeat mood was felt in London and by 9am the FTSE 100 Index had slipped below the 5,200 mark, losing 5.0 points at 5198.6.
Defence group BAE Systems was one of the biggest fallers, dropping 11p at 335p after the shock resignation of chief executive John Weston today.
Also heading south were media stocks. Financial Times publisher Pearson lost 6p at 893p, magazine house Reed International fell back 5p at 673p and Daily Mail & General Trust shed 4p at 740p.
But among the smaller stocks, beleaguered former blue chip Marconi was having a better session and surged 12%.
Traders have been deserting the stock in droves after the telecom group warned last week it had failed to secure a crucial bank deal bank. Today, however, it put on 0.5p at 7p.
Other risers included Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel, which added 3p at 64p after unveiling plans to cut it £6.4bn debt mountain by £400m.
EGi News 26/03/02
