London shares open lower and tech stocks continue to drag
The heavy falls of the past two days show no sign of letting up, as London shares opened lower, with techs stocks continuing to be a drag on the market.
With US and Far Eastern markets losing ground overnight, it was almost inevitable the London Stock Exchange would open on the back foot.
Within the first half hour it had fallen 35.3 points.
After an hour though, some ground had been clawed back and the FTSE-100 Index of leading stocks was down 14.9 points at 5957.5.
The fallers were being guided down by tech stocks, with computer services group Logica the biggest early casualty, down 76p at £13.71.
Others on the slide included software firm Autonomy, off 47p at £16.20, chip designer Arm down 14p at 355p and computer services group CMG 16p lighter at 794p.
Telecoms, which usually shadow tech stocks, were looking stronger, however.
Vodafone was up 1½p at 184¾p and Colt was up 14p at £13.10.
With a glut of blue-chip stocks reporting results, there was corporate news aplenty to focus traders' minds.
Among some of those posting figures today, hotels group Hilton was up 8¾p at 231¾p, drinks giant Diageo was off 14p at 670p and Centrica was down 4¾p at 245p.
