Main losers

Ferraris -18% Colt Telecom -6% Marconi -5% Energis -4% Logica: -3%

There was also precious little to cheer traders in the Bank of England's latest inflationary report.

It said the UK's economy would remain weak for the rest of the year because of the global slowdown.

The Bank also warned that there remained a risk that there could be a further downturn in the world economy.

Cisco worries

"It's definitely a Cisco hangover we're experiencing today," said Richard Mann, senior adviser at Barclays Stockbrokers.

What also worried the market was that Cisco said there could be more bad news for the tech sector before any recovery is seen.

As a result all the main UK technology, media and telecoms shares saw falls when trading got underway.

Telecoms equipment maker Marconi and tech firms ARM Holdings and Misys were among the companies suffering.

By mid-afternoon, only Marconi's shares were heavily down.

Vodafone's shares dropped 5% early on - enough to cut 21 points off the FTSE 100 index alone.

Shares in drug companies were also hit by the news that the German drugmaker Bayer has withdrawn its cholesterol lowering drug Baycol because of worries over side effects.

GlaxoSmithKline's shares slid more than 2%, as it co-markets Baycol with Bayer in the United States.