Vodafone Group fell in morning trading as concern that third-generation (3G) technology will not live up to expectations compounded the bearish mood among telecoms and tech stocks, dealers said.
In early trading today, the mobile phone giant's shares were down 3p, or 2.5 per cent, at 134p, after dipping to 132.25p, which matched this week's intra-day low.
Dealers said there was no fresh news to prompt the selling, but yesterday's news that 3G networks will run at a slower speed than had been previously expected had added to the woes of the company and the industry.
"There are overhanging concerns that 3G is just a large waste of money," one dealer said.
Dealers said Vodafone had also suffered from being the most liquid and one of the heaviest-weighted stocks in the FTSE 100.
"If you want to short the overall market, one of the easiest ways of doing it is to sell Vodafone," one dealer said.