The FTSE 100 index closed at a fresh nine-month low today, pressured by weak banking and drug shares as doubts about earnings prospects and the wider economic recovery hit sentiment.
Advertising giant WPP led the retreat with a 6.5 per cent fall after it reported an eight per cent drop in organic revenues during the last five months and said it did not expect a full recovery until 2004.
The blue-chip index FTSE ended down 63.4 points or 1.38 per cent at 4,541.9, the lowest close since the index hit a four-year low of 4,433.7 on September 21st. The FTSE has fallen 13 per cent so far this year.
The banking sector knocked 11 points off the main index, with Barclays falling 2.2 per cent, Lloyds TSB down 1.5 percent and HSBC 1.4 per cent lower.
Shares in Lloyds TSB slipped despite Britain's third biggest bank saying it expected its half-year results to meet market forecasts. Lloyds said it had increased its bad debt provisions, but this was due to increased lending volumes.
The heavily weighted drugs sector eroded another 14 points, with GlaxoSmithKline slipping 2.6 per cent and AstraZeneca down 2.1 per cent.