Footsie falls as tech stocks suffer

Tech and telecom stocks were under pressure today as the FTSE-100 Index continued to fall away from the 6,000 barrier.

By 9am, the Footsie was down 46.2 points at 5858, despite strong gains overnight on the US-based NASDAQ Composite.

Vodafone continued to lose weight after £3.5bn worth of new shares hit the market yesterday.

Vodafone, one of London's biggest stocks, lost 3% yesterday before slipping a further 3%, or 5p, at 194p.

Meanwhile Orange was also on the way down, off 5½p at 710p, despite announcing a 33% rise in group turnover for the first quarter.

Other new economy stocks suffering included telecoms equipment firm Spirent, down 20¼p at 368¼p, software group Misys, off 21½p at 586½p, and Dimension Data, down 8p at 340p.

On a busy day for corporate results, CGNU lost 29p at 946p despite announcing record sales and a 12% profits hike.

ICI topped the Footsie risers board, rising 13p at 425p, after announcing first quarter figures. It blamed the US slowdown for a 6% fall in pre-tax profits, although the report was better than many analysts had been expecting.

Scottish Power also gained 7p at 448½p after saying its underlying performance had been strong, despite pre-tax profits before exceptionals falling 15% during the year to March 31.