Wall St woes hit Footsie

The FTSE 100 index is down 67.5 points at 4512.8 - its lowest since September 21.

The slide follows a 129-point slump on the Dow Jones last night and a further fall from the Nasdaq.

US shares were hit by more bad news, including a profit warning from biotech firm Genzyme, as well as continuing concerns about the Middle East.

In London, all but five members of the Footsie are falling.

Drugs stocks are weighing on the market, with AstraZeneca down 3%, or 83p at £25.87 (€26.78), after its prostate cancer drug Casodex was deemed "not approvable" by the US's Food and Drug Administration.

GlaxoSmithKline has fallen 5p to £13.75 (€14.23), while Shire Pharmaceuticals is down 4%, or 23½p at 542p.

Tech and telecoms stocks have been hit by the Nasdaq decline, with Vodafone down 2¾p at 86¼p and Cable & Wireless off 4½p at 167½p.

ARM and Logica, both of which will be kicked out of the Footsie tonight, have slipped 8¾p to 130¼p and 3p to 194p respectively.

Among smaller stocks, Budgens has jumped 9½p to 133½p after agreeing a 135p-a-share takeover deal from Irish shareholder Musgrave.

And Ryland has risen 7½p to 115p after saying its financial performance for the six months to June 30 was "ahead of budget and last year".