Banking fraud investigation hurts Footsie
The FTSE 100 Index has fallen 21.9 points to reach 5071.5 by lunchtime.
Allied Irish Banks says it's probing a suspected fraud involving more than €817m in a US subsidiary.
Banking stocks are heading south, with Royal Bank of Scotland off 42p at £17.50, Barclays dropping 46p at £21.28, Lloyds TSB 10p weaker at 726½p, HBOS off 14p at 825½p and Abbey National easing 21p at £10.40.
Shares in AIB, which has its primary listing in Dublin, were down 2.1 euro at 11.55 euro - a fall of 15%.
Elsewhere, telecom stocks were adding to the downbeat trend as economic worries continued to concern investors.
Vodafone has fallen 3p at 140½p, and rival mmO2 - which yesterday unveiled a swathe of job cuts - fell ¼p at 72¼p.
But moving in the opposite direction are mining stocks, buoyed by the surging gold price which has soared through the psychologically-important 300-dollars-an-ounce barrier.
Anglo American jumped 4%, rising 49p to £12.43, BHP Billiton rose 9¼p to 399¼p and Rio Tinto gained 25p to £14.20.
Among the smaller stocks, nuts and bolts manufacturer Trifast slumped 31p at 81½p - a 28% fall - after warning flat sales in US and Europe would hit profits and put jobs at risk.
Internet firm InterX says full-year results would be substantially below expectations, and shares slid 62%, off 42p at 25½p.
