Stock market crashes

21 01 2008 United Kingdom

Top companies dropped in value by £76 billion on the London stock market in the biggest one-day fall in 25 years.

Investors’ confidence plummeted across the world at the prospect of a US recession and further shocks from the credit market, sparking a panic to sell-off shares in large corporations.

Share prices tumbled as stock exchanges recorded their biggest one-day falls since 9/11. The FTSE 100 index closed down 323.5 points at 5578.2. This was a 3.5 per cent fall on the day, wiping out the market’s gain over the last 18 months.

This followed UK data that showed a drop in high street sales over the Christmas period and a weakening of sterling. This was in contrast to steady inflation and a welcome turnaround for British exporters in the last three months of 2007.

In Japan the Nikkei index was down nearly 4 per cent, while Germany's Dax and France's CAC index both fell by 7 per cent.

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