| Stocks suffer as attacks continue |
Airlines, insurers and banks have all fallen lower as traders showed nervousness following the attacks on Afghanistan.
The FTSE 100 Index is down 83.4 points at 4952.6, although the fall marks a rebound from an earlier 133-point slump.
Traders say the initial slide was a knee-jerk reaction to the attacks, and most expected markets to show some sort of recovery from the falls during the day's trading.
The falls also come after a relatively strong run over the past few weeks, where the Footsie has bounced back 20% from the lows seen after the terror attacks in the US on September 11.
Stocks under pressure include British Airways, off 12½p to 142½p, whileEasyJet has slipped 4%, down 25½p to 333½p.
BAA has fallen 17p to 498p and Rolls-Royce has slumped 6% or 8¾p at 137½p.
Among the banks on the slide are Abbey National, 62½p lower at £10.34, Royal Bank of Scotland off 69p at £15.21 and HSBC slipping 23p to 724p.
Insurers are also under further pressure with Royal & Sun Alliance off 15½p at 344½p while Prudential has fallen 35p to 716p and CGNU fell 42p to 856p.
Insurance stocks are also under pressure following a warning from Swiss-based Zurich Financial that insurance losses would be the largest in its history.
Retailers are also sliding, on worries that consumer confidence will be hurt. Marks & Spencer has 3¾p to 278p, Boots is down 5½p at 630p, GUS has fallen 19p to 538p, Dixons has slipped 4p to 190p and Tesco is 10¾p lower at 245¼p.
Story filed: 14:08 Monday 8th October 2001
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