Tech shares take battering on market

Tech shares have taken a battering on the market following bad sentiment in the US.

The FTSE-100 Index has been dragged further below the elusive 6,000 mark.

A warning from Sun Microsystems helped knock shares in America, where both the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones opened sharply lower.

And in the UK, the Footsie followed suit, plummeting 67 points to 5796.9 by the close of play.

Marconi, which had been under pressure all day following news that merger talks between international rivals Alcatel and Lucent had broken down, slid nearly 10%, off 38p at 356p. The group had also been hurt by a profits warning from French group Alcatel.

Other telecom firms suffering on the market included Colt Telecom, down 64p at 701p, Energis down 11¾p at 269½p, Telewest Communications off 4p at 121p and Vodafone, which reported its full-year figures, off 8½p at 180p.

Among the techs, computer services group Logica slid 55p to 875p, chip designer Arm Holdings was off 36¼p at 331¾p and software firm Misys fell 36p to 562p.

But it was not all bad news on the London market, and on the way up were the power firms, sparked by quarter-one profit figures from electricity company International Power. The firm reported a jump in profits from £54m to £81m and shares perked up in response, rising 4%, up 12¼p to 326¾p.

The biggest Footsie risers were International Power up 12¼p to 326¾p, Scottish Power up 16¼p to 517½p, South African Breweries up 14½p at 514½p and Scottish & Southern Energy up 18p to 642p.

Fallers were Arm Holdings, down 36¼p at 331¾p, CMG down 44½p at 413½p, Marconi down 38p at 356p, Colt Telecom down 64p at 701p and Misys down 36p at 562p.