FTSE tumbles to fresh 7-1/2 yr low as banks slide Wednesday January 29, 4:06 am ET
LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Heavyweight banking and telecoms stocks knocked British blue chips to a new seven and a half year low on Wednesday, despite strong results from mortgage bank Northern Rock (London:NRK.L - News). ADVERTISEMENT
The FTSE 100 (London:^FTSE - News) was down 62.5 points, or 1.8 percent, at 3,427.5 by 0854 GMT -- just off the session trough and hovering near an intraday low not seen since July 1995.
Banking stocks were responsible for around a quarter of the fall on the index, while telecoms shares took 10 points off. Among the biggest fallers was Abbey National (London:ANL.L - News), down 6.3 percent, and insurer Friends Provident (London:FP.L - News), down 5.7 percent.