Footsie beginning to claw back early losses

The Footsie index of 100 leading stocks is down 51.6 points by mid-morning at 4984.4, although this marks something of a rebound from an earlier 133-point slump.

Traders say the initial slide was a knee-jerk reaction to the allies' attacks on Afghanistan, and most expect markets to show some sort of recovery during the day's trading.

British Airways is down 7% or 10½p to 144½p; while easyJet is off 6% or 20½p to 328½p.

The firm which operates Heathrow and Gatwick airports, BAA, is down 13p to 502p; while aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce is off 7% or 9¾p at 136½p.

Banks on the slide include Abbey National, 55½p lower at £10.41; Royal Bank of Scotland, off 50p at £15.40; and HSBC, slipping 21p to 726p.

Following a warning from Swiss-based Zurich Financial that insurance losses would be the largest in its history, Royal & Sun Alliance is off 8¼p at 351¾p; Prudential is down 15½p to 735½p; and life assurer CGNU is off 34p at 864p.

Those on the increase include defensive stocks such as National Grid, up 11p at 449p; Scottish & Southern, up 19p to 664p; and Powergen, ahead by ½p at 733½p.

Invensys is up 11% or 4¾p at 48¾p after saying that first-half profits would be in line, despite concerns over the weekend that it would issue a statement saying it could not predict its outlook.

Outside the Footsie, Marconi is down a further 10% or 1¾p to 16¼p.

Transport companies are also having a tough day following Railtrack's collapse. Go-Ahead is down 67½p at 592½p; Stagecoach has fallen by 4¾p at 56¼p; while engineer Balfour Beatty is down 13p to 159p.