Nervous investors send FTSE tumbling

The FTSE 100 has plunged into the red following an overnight sell-off in Asia and comes on the first trading day marking the 1987 crash.Reminiscent of Black Monday, the benchmark index opened 114.5 points lower at 6413.4. By midday, it had recovered slightly and was 88.2 down at 6439.7.On Friday, Wall Street suffered a 366.9 loss to close at 13,522.0 following a series of disappointing results from major companies and fears over the impact of the recent credit crunch.US investors were disappointed by profits warnings from major companies such as Caterpillar, as well as heavy loan write-offs at the US's fourth largest bank, Wachovia.Matt Buckland, a trader with CMC Markets, said: "Friday's slump on Wall Street is going to dominate market sentiment as the new trading week gets under way."He added: "Obviously there's speculation that we may see a repeat of the losses from Black Monday some 20 years ago and with little economic data being scheduled for release it's going to be sentiment rather than the fundamentals that provide the bulk of the direction."© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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ITN | October 22, 2007

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