Barclays brings market down to earth with a bump

THE London market slid back below the 4,100 level today after trading was hurt

By the close of trading the FTSE 100 Index was down 78.9 points at 4075.4.

This followed a subdued day which saw shares under pressure for the entire session.

A poor close on Wall Street on Monday night initially hurt the mood, while a slide from US exchanges on their opening today pushed British stocks still lower.

By the time London closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was around 100 points adrift after being hurt by a disappointing outlook from AOL Time Warner, which warned of lower advertising revenue for the year ahead.

Among London stocks, banking group Barclays was one of the main stocks taking a tumble after forecasting full-year profits would meet only the lower range of targets.

The group has been hit by turbulent conditions.

This is particularly true of its investment banking arm Barclays Capital.

Barclays' shares slid 19p to 433p a 4% tumble that took more than £1 billion off its value.

Rival banks were caught up in the gloomy mood and other financial stocks also eased.

Royal Bank of Scotland lost 79p at 1551p, HBOS was off 35p at 672.5p, Lloyds TSB was 14.5p weaker at 530.5p and HSBC was 14.5p lower at 746.5p.