FTSE 100 shaken by global turmoil

THE FTSE 100 fell below the 7,000 mark yesterday as stock markets around the world tumbled.

Britain’s blue-chip index of leading companies fell 1.2pc, or 87.59 points, to 6955.21 – its lowest level since March.

The Footsie has now lost nearly 12pc of its value since reaching an all-time high in May, wiping around £240bn off the value of savings and investments.

The rout on the stock market in London was echoed around the world amid concerns about a global trade war, wrangles over Italy’s budget, the diplomatic crisis in Saudi Arabia and disappointing updates from US industrial powerhouses Caterpillar and 3M. Following heavy losses in China overnight, the German stock market fell 2.2pc while France was down 1.7pc and Italy and Spain both slid by 0.9pc.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 300 points, or 1.3pc.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down more than 1.5pc. Connor Campbell, a market analyst at Spreadex, said a ‘poisonous brewing cauldron of geopolitical and economic issues’ dragged stock markets lower.

Lukman Otunuga at leading forex broker FXTM added: ‘All the ingredients for a market-shaking selloff across global stocks seem to be in place.’