Updated on
Summary The 100 big firms of the UK bore a loss of about 50 billion pound in one day.
Global stocks plunged on the increasing prospect of a sharp economic downturn, with attention focused on US jobs data, widely expected to deepen the gloom of flagging growth and eurozone debt.However losses were less acute by midday, while Milan and Madrid managed to eke out modest gains on rumours that the European Central Bank was preparing to buy hard-hit Spanish and Italian bonds. Londons benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 2.62 percent after initial losses of more than 3.0 percent, which had sent it to levels last seen 11 months ago. Frankfurt slid 2.35 percent and Paris lost 1.16 percent. Milan and Madrid rose 0.45 and 0.40 percent respectively.The dollar fell to 78.46 yen from 78.93 yen in New York, a day after Japan intervened in markets to stem the yens rise. The euro rose to $1.4149 from $1.4106.Asian stock markets closed sharply lower on Friday as already-fragile investor confidence was hammered by more weak US economic data and a warning from the head of the European Commission that the eurozone debt crisis had spread from peripheral countries to mainstay economies such as Italy.Tokyo tumbled 3.72 percent, Sydney slumped 4.0 percent and Taipei dived 5.58 percent. Fear swept across Asia from the United States, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst one-day drop since December 2008 to close 4.3 percent lower, erasing all this years gains.A double-dip recession refers to a short-lived recovery from one recession and then a new plunge back into economic contraction.European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso urged eurozone leaders on Thursday to re-think their currencys defences, admitting debt contagion has now spread to the heart of the single currency area and urging a rapid revamp of new rescue systems.The eurozone debt crisis has put Italy and Spain under huge pressure in recent weeks after Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to be bailed out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
