Thursday, 11 June
Phil Collins, HSBC James Capel

One of the largest falls in many weeks. FTSE dropped 135 points to 5852.5. We're struggling for several reasons, but it was mainly the UK markets' global links proving its undoing.

The Far Eastern markets dropped overnight and took the UK down with them. The usual suspects suffered. HSBC and Standard Charter both sold 4%. Cable & Wireless suffered even more falling, almost 5% as the market looked East and worried.

Afternoon trading followed the Dow, which was down 116 points as the UK closed. The relative beneficiaries were the defensive companies. Asda was up 3% and BAA up 1.5%. The utilities were also relatively unaffected, as both water and electricity companies have almost no exposure to Asia.