Footsie and Nasdaq fall to depress trading in London

A GLOOMY start on Wall Street depressed trading in London yesterday, pulling the FTSE 100 Index further towards the 4000 barrier.

By London's close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off more than 100 points after consumer confidence data missed forecasts.

The tech-laden Nasdaq also fell, damaging already weak trading in the City and the FTSE 100 finished 51.2 points adrift at 4071.0.

City Index's Tom Hougaard said: "The FTSE 100 failed yesterday to get above 4200 and since then investors have been quick to take profits."

But he also predicted a more subdued performance in the US for the rest of the week, despite yesterday's heavy falls.

Thursday is Thanksgiving and Friday is historically the lowest volume day of the year in the US.

One of the City's biggest fallers yesterday was mobile phone giant Vodafone as its recent strong run came to a grinding halt.

Shares fell 5p to 118p as investment bank Deutsche cut its rating on the stock to hold and investors took profits.

Rival mmO2 was also down heavily, off 5.5p at 48p, BT lost 4p at 203.75p and Cable & Wireless which yesterday said its chairman designate was quitting after pressure from shareholders lost 3.75p at 77.75p.

The telecoms group recently stunned the City with costly plans to overhaul its troubled Global division.