The FTSE 100 opened with falls of over three per cent this morning as the bleak US financial news hit London.
At 8:40 BST, the index made back some ground standing down 2.60 per cent to 5,276.10 – a drop of 140.60 points.
With the news of Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy, the takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America and the call for emergency loans from AIG, unsurprisingly weighed heavy on financial stocks.
HBOS dropped 12.50 per cent to 246.75p, Friends Provident fell 9.13 per cent to 89.60p, Royal Bank of Scotland was down 8.65 per cent to 219.00p, Barclays slid 8.35 per cent to 321.25p and Prudential was down 6.62 per cent to 514.50.
The only stock in London's top 100 to see a rise was National Grid – gaining 0.28 per cent.
In Europe the Cac 40 fell 3.41 per cent and Dax dropped 2.85 per cent – with neither index seeing any stocks gaining in price.
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