FTSE lurches lower after Dow fall; banks, WPP drop
17:30, Tuesday, 6 August 2002
LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 share index
slumped over two percent early on Tuesday, taking another fall
after a sharp drop on Wall Street overnight as gloomy economic
data knocked fragile hopes of recovery.
At 0718 GMT the FTSE 100 <.FTSE> benchmark index was down
92.3 points, or 2.3 percent, at 3,904.1, after hitting 3,900.7,
its worst intraday level since last month's six-year low of
3,626 points hit on July 26.
Dealers said the latest fall and weak economic data on both
sides of the Atlantic puts the FTSE back on course to test those
lows again.
Financial stocks led the early fall, with banks wiping 21
points off the FTSE due to their high exposure to economic
downturn and bigger bad debt provisions. Insurers were also hit
again by their exposure to the market's latest lurch lower, and
Avivawas down five percent.
Advertising giant WPPfell eight percent in initial
trading, after bad news from U.S. rival Interpublicon
Monday and general worries over the economic downturn.
But tobacco stocks bucked the gloom and British American
Tobaccoadded two percent, supported by news the
California Supreme Court handed the industry a partial victory
on Monday in a verdict giving cigarette makers some protection
from smoker lawsuits.
((Steve Slater, UK Stock Market team, +44 20 75424367, fax
44 20 7542 2120, [email protected]))
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