London shares tumble dramatically

London shares have tumbled dramatically in early trading as more heavy losses in the US overnight added to the fear in the City.

After the first hour, the FTSE 100 Index was down 141.4 points at 4415.5 with every blue-chip stock in the red.

The depressing pattern was reflected in the FTSE 250, with just eight shares making any progress.

Investors in London took their lead from further losses on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4%, or 382.92 points to a three-year low.

In the City, tech and telecom shares were the hardest hit but heavyweights Shell and BP are also continuing to slide.

Troubled telecoms group Marconi is trading at 21p, off 2p in its last day in the FTSE 100 Index, after having slipped to 19p in early trading.

Other stocks on their way into the FTSE 250 next week are also losing ground, with Colt Telecom off 10%, or 13p to 117p and Spirent down 5¾p to 80½p. Electrocomponents is off 12½p to 193½p while chip designer Arm Holdings fell 11p to 194p.

Elsewhere the uncertain economic outlook continues to knock Shell and BP, with the oil giants off 16p and 17p to 435½p and 508p respectively.

The gloom is also troubling the banks, with HBoS down 47p to 661p, Lloyds TSB off 4%, or 27p to 593p, Barclays down 75p to £15.02, Royal Bank of Scotland 63p lower at £12.12 and HSBC off 9½p to 599p.

And there is little corporate news to lift the gloom. Restaurant chain Belgo blamed a drop in the number of tourists visiting London for a decline in full-year profits. Its shares eased ¼p to 1½p, a fall of 14%.