Internet And Technology Shares Tumble Markets

Shares went into a sharp decline today, wiping out Monday’s strong gains and pulling the FTSE-100 Index well down from its record overnight close.

The market began falling as soon as it opened and by mid-morning the index had dived 175.9 points to 6339.4. The slide came as traders followed Wall Street which fell sharply overnight, with technology shares among the biggest fallers.

Some of the hardest hit were America Online, which fell by $22; Amazon.com which dropped $32 and Yahoo, down by $26. This sell-off then spread to high-tech software and hardware manufacturers such as Microsoft and has swept through markets around the world.

At midday today, information provider Dialog was down by 11p (8.4%) at 120p.