Another big shift out of "new economy" stocks and into "old economy" areas, plus renewed weakness on Wall Street at the outset yesterday, provoked a bout of widespread but generally light selling pressure in London's equity market.
In the background to a generally lacklustre showing by the market was lingering concern over the unresolved outcome of the US presidential election and a rather muted view of Wednesday afternoon's preBudget statement by Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The decision by the Bank of England's monetary policy committee to leave domestic interest rates unchanged for the ninth consecutive month came as no surprise to the stock market, with economists unanimous in forecasting no change.
The marked weakness of tech stocks and telecoms came in the wake of a big slide in the tech/telecoms-laden Nasdaq Composite overnight. The Nasdaq retreated 184 points, or 5.4 per cent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 45 points off.
There was more trouble for the US markets, with the Dow posting a three-figure decline early in the session before rallying a shade, and the Nasdaq also off around 100 points before edging off the bottom.
When the curtain fell on the London market the FTSE 100 was left with a 35.2 decline at 6,442.2, having fallen to a session low of 6,412.4, down 65.0, shortly after US markets opened.
The weakness in the 100 index would have been much worse but for renewed strength in the areas seen as likely to benefit from a Bush victory in the US election - oils and drug stocks.
Among the individual stocks, Bookham Technology shares, already the worst individual performer in the FTSE 100 index this quarter, were stricken again, diving another 14 per cent as the market reeled from a vulnerable tech sector.
And BT was another casualty, its shares heading south after its restructuring proposals.
Commenting on the impact of the US election news and the preBudget report, Mr Paul O'Connor, strategist at Credit Suisse First Boston, said: "While financial markets supposedly hate uncertainty, the lack of a decisive result in the US election looks like a blessing in disguise for bonds and equities.
`We see the pre-Budget report in a similar light - a story of fiscal risks averted. There is little here to worry the bond markets or the Bank of England. The lack of upward pressure on short and long rates in the UK is clearly supportive for the equity market, both in absolute terms and relative to other European markets.`
Turnover in equities was a rather disappointing 1.63 billion shares.
