Gloomy economic tidings sends City shares tumbling

LONDON shares took another battering yesterday as economic worries and grim corporate news returned to haunt investors.

Poor manufacturing data raised fears that the US economy is still in the doldrums and sent Wall Street and European markets sliding.

With disappointing corporate numbers from British giants Shell, ICI and Barclays, the FTSE 100 slumped nearly 5% down 201.7 points to 4044.5 as £48 billion was wiped from the value of blue-chip shares.