London - Shares fell further in early trading on the London Stock Exchange, following the ongoing losses on Wall Street the day before and on Asian markets on Friday. Fears of a credit crunch were cited as the FTSE 100 Index plunged 111.1 points, or some 1.8 per cent, to 6160.1 points in early trading. Financial and mining stocks led the losses.
Among the banking stocks, Barclays fell 32.5 pence to 649.5 pence, while Standard Chartered shed 68 pence to 1,592 pence and the Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 18.5 pence to 566 pence.
Among mining shares, Antofagast lost 27.5 pence to 624.5 pence and BHP Billiton fell 49 pence to 1,302 pence.
The early losses left the FTSE-100 within calling distance of the critical mark of 6,000 points, adding to investors' nervousness, analysts said.
CMC Markets analyst Matt Buckland said the heavy Wall Street losses on Thursday, coupled with a lack of economic or corporate data due for release during the session, would push markets lower.
"Critically, many are now going to be looking for that big 6,000 level on the London index," he said.
