Business News
FTSE and pound in sharp fall on London markets
Mar 17, 2008, 19:37 GMT
London - The shockwaves from the fall-out of the dramatic Bear Stearns sale in the US wiped 51 billion pounds (102 billion dollars) off the value of Britain's biggest companies Monday.
The FTSE 100 share index tumbled by 3.9 per cent, or 217.3 points to close at 5414.4 Monday, its lowest level for more than two years.
Earlier Monday, the Bank of England injected an extra 5 billion pounds into money markets to help stabilize the situation.
In Britain, a raft of major banks recorded steep falls on the FTSE index, with Barclays off 9 per cent, Halifax Bank of Scotland down 13 per cent and the Royal Bank of Scotland 9 per cent lower.
The credit crunch has now seen the value of Britain's top 100 companies fall by nearly 20 per cent since the FTSE reached seven- year highs above 6,700 in June last year.
On the currency markets, the pound fell to 1.27 against the Euro.
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