Footsie falls following gloomy news from US

A gloomy session on Wall Street is leading to early losses in the City of London as the Footsie index of 100 leading stocks struggles to continue its recent resurgence.

High-tech and banking stocks are falling back as investors react to a spate of profit warnings and downgrades on the other side of the Atlantic, where the Dow Jones index lost 92 points.

That fall is casting a shadow on traders in London, where the Footsie 100 index is off 7.1 points at 4689 after an hour's trading, having edged up in the opening minutes.

Chip designer ARM Holdings is the heaviest faller, sliding 4% or 10¾p to 245p, reflecting broker downgrades for IBM and Sun Microsystems in the US.

Computer services group Logica is down 18p to 704p; and software firm Sage is off 4½p at 169p.

Among the banks, HBoS is off 18p to 732p; Barclays has shed 19p at £17.99; and Royal Bank of Scotland has dropped 21p to £14.60.

Lloyds TSB is also off, shedding 6p to 628p, after it confirmed that it will take up a listing on the New York Stock Exchange in November.

Corporate activity is restricted to smaller companies, with in-flight caterer and airport retailer Alpha Airports reporting a 22% rise in half-year profits. Shares in the group, which said it was confident of absorbing the impact from the terror attacks in the US, are up 1p to 46½p.

Investors have also been given an update on the state of the advertising market with GWR, owner of Classic FM, predicting an 8% fall in like-for-like revenue in the first half. Its share price is down 6% or 10p to 162½p.