Still on the techie sector, Current Account noted the strong warning this week from PricewaterhouseCoopers that most floated Internet companies could run out of cash in the next 15 months because of high marketing and expansion costs.

Research from PwC has suggested that 25 out of 28 listed dot.coms could burn through their cash piles by next August and that one in four had no more than six months' cash left if they continued to spend at their current rates.

Dot.com companies, most of which have little or no profits and are valued - ridiculously - on a multiple of their sales are voracious consumers of cash as they develop their products and most are nowhere near the level where they are generating enough revenue to cover these costs.

Most will need more equity finance if they are to continue in operation, but the big question is that, having re-rated an entire sector downwards, will the markets have any appetite for more stock offerings?

According to PwC, half the companies surveyed had seen their share prices grow over eight times despite having only eight months' cash left!