ClickAJob News

The FTSE 100 fell in early trading this morning as more poor news on the economic front hit.

At 9:04 GMT, the index was down 1.51 per cent to 4,359.39 – a fall of 66.80 points.

The fall came as the British Retail Consortium reported the worst high street sales figures for 14 years, describing the figures as "truly dreadful", while the British Chambers of Commerce reported an "alarming collapse in confidence".

Miners and financials lead the drop this morning.

Rio Tinto fell 8.65 per cent, Xstrata dropped 6.52 per cent and Vedanta Resources was down 6.40 per cent, while Barclays slipped 8.45 per cent and Friends Provident lost 7.34 per cent.

Amid the despondency on the high street Tesco was up 2.60 per cent – after reporting a 2.5 per cent rise in sales - the smallest increase in Christmas sales since the early 1990s, but ahead of analysts' predictions.

British Airways was up 2.32 per cent and Reed Elsevier gained 1.15 per cent.

In New York last night, the Dow Jones was down 1.46 per cent, while the Nikkei dropped 4.79 per cent overnight and the Hang Seng slipped 2.17 per cent.