London shares hits new lows

Leading UK shares pushed to new lows midafternoon, weighed down by the steep opening falls on Wall Street, where investors continued to pare their stock holdings despite a robust US consumer confidence survey, dealers said.

By 3.20 pm, the FTSE 100 was down 83.0 at 3,852.3, just 10 points off the intraday low. All the wider indices were also weak.