Vodafone leads market fall
The FTSE 100 Index has slid past the 5,200 barrier as technology and media stocks pulled the London market lower.
Vodafone was one of the day's heaviest fallers, losing 4% and adding to yesterday's 4% drop.
The slide was on concerns about low subscriber growth at US venture Verizon, and followed evidence of poor mobile phone sales in the UK from retailer Dixons yesterday.
Aided by a subdued opening on Wall Street - by London's close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off more than 23 points - the Footsie closed lower and ended the session 37.8 points adrift at 5190.7.
The quiet start in the US would have disappointed traders hoping for some inspiration from the other side of the Atlantic, after the Bank of England's widely-expected decision at noon to keep interest rates on hold at 4% failed to stimulate.
Hi-tech and media stocks were some of the day's biggest losers as investors pulled out in favour of more defensive options.
Vodafone shed 6¼p at 164½p and Cable & Wireless lost 2p at 330½p, although BT bucked the trend to put on 6½p at 251½p after reassuring investors about any possible move into broadcasting.
Tech stocks on the move included computer services firm Logica, down 21p at 664p and chip designer Arm Holdings, which fell 11¾p at 348½p.
Media stocks caught up in the sell off included Daily Mail and General Trust, which shed 40½p at 659½p - a 6% slump - to end the day leading the Footsie fallers.
News and information group Reuters was off 16p at 700p, ITV broadcaster Granada shed 7¾p at 140¼p, advertising giant WPP moved back 32p at 726p and music giant EMI was 10¾p weaker at 352p.
