Footsie subdued in early trading

The Footsie-100 Index is down 10.5 at 4424.2 in early trading.

Renewed doubts about the health of the economy kept investors on the sidelines.

GDP figures out this morning are expected to show the economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the second quarter of the year.

Weaker industrial output in June is forecast to have shaved 0.3% from initial GDP assessments to 0.6%, renewing fears about the economic recovery.

Amid the subdued trading, telecoms and banks were lower with Vodafone off 1p at 109¼p and mmO2 down 1½p at 52p.

Of the banks, Lloyds TSB was down 4p at 596p, Barclays was off 8p at 478p and Royal Bank of Scotland fell 20p to £16.28.

Royal & Sun Alliance continued its recent recovery, however, moving up a further 2%, or 2½p to 127½p.

Among smaller stocks, hi-tech group Densitron Technologies plunged 19%, or 3p to 13p, after warning it would miss profits targets this year.

But a near 30% lift in interim profits was enough to push shares in electrical engineering firm T Clarke up 14p to 450p.