London shares face fresh turmoil

London shares faced fresh turmoil today as the FTSE 100 Index fell further from last night's three-year low.

The index of leading blue-chip stocks followed yesterday's 111 point drop with a fall of 71.4 points to 5132.9 after an hour's trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite were both lower overnight, while sentiment was not helped by GDP figures from Japan showing the country's economy had shrunk by 0.8% in the quarter ending June.

Vodafone was among the heaviest casualties amid reports its third generation networks will not be fast enough to offer multi-media services.

Shares in one of the market's biggest stocks was down 3% as a result, off 4¼p at 133¼p.

Marconi briefly reached a new low during the first hour, falling to 28p before pulling back to remain unchanged at 29p.

The company has seen more than £650m wiped off its value in the last two days.

Among companies reporting results today, leisure group Rank led the FTSE 250 risers board with a lift of 11p at 220p after doubling half-year profits before tax and exceptionals.

Rank was closely followed by pub chain JD Wetherspoon, which announced a rise in interim turnover of 31%, with pre-tax profit ahead 23%.