A stocks meltdown in the Far East today took its toll on the FTSE-100 Index as it lost its grip on the 6,000 level within minutes of opening.

Traders were running for cover in the wake of losses in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore as fears grew over the prospect of a devaluation of the region's key currencies.

Mild losses in the US, Australia and Germany also helped set the tone for this morning's trading as leading shares plunged 62 points to 5,957.8.

Once again the banking sector was at the forefront of selling with Barclays slipping 22p to £17.45, Lloyds TSB crumbling 15p to 883p, Abbey National heading 13p south to £10.85 and NatWest cooling 12p to £11.30.

Caution marked the session as a number of other key stocks were left untouched with Halifax at a steady 888p and the Woolwich remaining an even 346.5p.

Legal & General also slimmed 13p to 695p and Norwich Union fell 5p to 470p. Meanwhile, utilities continued to grab the City's attention after Scottish Hydro-Electric, up 1p to 581p, lifted pre-tax profits but found itself falling prey to the windfall tax which took a bite out of the headline figure.

And Welsh group Hyder, down 30.5p to 974p, reported a flat set of results with profits at £208.5m, up from £208.2m.

The mixed bag of results left much of the rest of the sector down with Yorkshire Water 2p off at 442.5p and Wessex Water 7p lower at 472.5p.

Severn Trent also crumbled 8½p to 990p and South West Water dipped 2p to 967p.

Granada Group, down 23p to £11.60 on profit-taking, announced it was continuing to "fire on all cylinders" after a jump in the growth of its media and hospitality businesses. Profits came in line with expectations.