Black day for markets, FTSE plummets 8.5 per cent

By MoneyhighStreet Staff. Published on October 10, 2008 This post currently has no comments.

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The FTSE 100 plunged again, with some investors seemingly panic-selling on the back of global recession fears.

At one point this morning, the index was trading over ten per cent down in one of the largest one-day price drops on record.

This followed the closure of the Asian markets earlier, with both Hong Kong''s Hang Seng and Tokyo''s Nikkei 225 falling sharply.

Shares recovered very slightly in London later - the index closing at 3947.78.

This is 366 points, or 8.5 per cent, down on the day.

In America, New York''s Dow Jones continues to fall, dropping 344 points or four per cent by 16:25 BST.

Speaking to news agency Bloomberg, Espen Furnes, an Oslo-based fund manager at Storebrand Asset Management, said: "This is worse than 1987 because then it was largely confined to the stock market, with limited effects on the underlying economy. Fundamentals don''t count anymore.

"We have reached the panic stage."

On Wednesday the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve imposed simultaneous 0.5 per cent interest rate cuts.

The move was made in a bid to boost confidence in the banking sector.