TMT weakness drives indices sharply lower

It was more of the same for a weary-looking equity market in London yesterday as another bout of weakness in the TMTs (telecoms, media and tech stocks) drove all the main FTSE indices sharply lower again.

Although finishing well off its worst of the session, the FTSE 100 was still 42.0 adrift at 6,400.2 having lost 103.7 at its worst while the FTSE 250 was finally 51.8 down at 6,736.2 and the SmallCap down 10.4 at 3,337.2.

A retreat by the Techmark 100 saw it finish 124.0 lower at 3,222.48, after 3,201.14.

Over the week the 100 index gained 14.8, the FTSE 250 lost 13.0 and the SmallCap 2.58. But by far the severest decline was seen in the Techmark 100 which lost 276.9, or 7.9 per cent.

Turnover in equities was 1.93 billion shares by the 6 p.m. count.

US influences were again behind the latest slide in the TMTs after Dell Computer, one of the leading US tech stocks, warned of margin pressures in the fourth quarter.

As if that was not enough there were big losses, too, in News Corporation and Walt Disney after both warned of a slowdown in advertising. That put immense pressure on the media stocks.

TMT stocks occupied the worst 20 performer slots in the FTSE 100 index for much of the day as investors continued to shift out of those sectors into the old economy groups.

In the background to the latest poor showing by markets was the continuing uncertainty about the outcome of Tuesday's US Presidential election which looks likely to drag on for some days.

Dealers said the downside pressures affecting London "are all sourced in the US", pointing out that the pre-budget statement delivered by the Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, to the House of Commons on Wednesday, held no real terrors for the stock market.

The decision of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee to leave domestic interest rates on hold for a ninth consecutive month was a positive for the market, they said.

But while the TMTs were taking a fearful beating, the switching activity on the other side of the trades involved some of the grand old names of the UK market, especially the retailers.

They responded vigorously to news of the resignation of Mr George Davies, the architect of Asda's big success in clothing, which was seen by some market observers as adding credence to the view that WalMart, which took over Asda, is having a hard time transferring its marketing success from the US to the UK.

Mr Davies's resignation comes hard on the heels of the departure earlier this month of Mr Allan Leighton, former chief executive of Asda, and Mr Archie Norman, Asda's chairman, who left the group after the Wal-Mart deal.