FTSE suffers early setback

The FTSE 100 Index is down 48.3 points at 3441.7, as telecoms, banking and insurance shares are hammered in early trading.

Abbey National is a heavy faller, plunging almost 4%, or 15p to 382p, while Lloyds TSB has dropped 9p to 366p and Barclays has fallen 7.5p to 326.75p.