Financials take a battering as sell-off continues

THE London market suffered another day of turmoil yesterday, sliding a further 2% as the sell-off continued.

By the close of trading the FTSE 100 Index was down 80.9 points at 3777.1, its lowest in six years, wiping another £19 billion from blue-chip share values.

However, a late recovery on the market meant it closed far above its mid-session low of 3625.9, when it was down 232.1 points.

But despite pulling back from sharp losses, shares still took a battering.

Financial stocks were again under pressure. Royal & Sun Alliance slid 10%, off 17p at 149p, Aviva fell 6p to 348p, Legal & General was down 1p at 103p and Prudential fell 5p to 414p.

Among the banks, Royal Bank of Scotland lost 39p at £14.36, HSBC drifted 14p to 681p, Lloyds TSB fell 16p to 538p and HBOS slid 13p to 559p. Abbey National reversed early gains to fall 19p to 638p.

A string of high street names also littered the Footsie fallers board. Argos closed down 18p at 461p. B&Q-to-Comet group Kingfisher was down 15p at 165p, electrical specialist Dixons, fell p to 154p, chemist Boots, was 19p weaker at 553p and Marks & Spencer was off 15p at 305p.

The biggest Footsie risers were EMI up 8p at 207p, Reckitt Benckiser up 16p at £10.04, Exel up 5p at 698p, Amersham up 1p at 457p and GlaxoSmithKline up 2p at £10.59. Fallers were Royal & Sun Alliance down 17p at 149p, Old Mutual down 7p at 72p, Kingfisher down 15p at 165p and Invensys down 5p at 62p.