British hi-tech shares have plumbed new depths as the depression about when technology earnings might recover deepened.

By the close of trading on 30 May, the TechMARK 100 index - the main gauge of tech stocks on the London Stock Exchange - was at 990.86, off 13.62 points on the day.

The finish was by some distance the lowest on record, less than half the 2,421.3 at which it ended its first day in November 1999.

The recent slide is hardly surprising, given the presence in the index over the past year of firms such as Marconi, Colt Telecom and Telewest.

In early 2000, just before the hi-tech bubble burst, the Techmark traded as high as 5,800.

Its latest fall was caused by an 8% slump in ARM Holdings, Britain's leading chipmaker and one of the index's main components.

ARM shares were aggressively sold off after brokerage house UBS Warburg downgraded its assessment of the stock.

Depressing outlook statements from German rival Infineon, which said memory chip prices were due to fall yet further in the coming months, helped exacerbate ARM's travails.

And in telecoms, French equipment maker Alcatel warned that mobile operators across Europe are cutting the prices they are willing to pay for network upgrades.

Too little, too late

The Techmark index was a belated attempt by the London Stock Exchange to cash in on the boom in hi-tech investment, much of which had been drawn to New York's Nasdaq market.

But November 1999 was close to the market's peak, and hi-tech shares started to nosedive on both sides of the Atlantic from mid-March of the following year.

As a result, the Techmark has headed in only one direction, and has failed to carve out a reputation as Europe's technology benchmark.

In recent months, hi-tech shares - which seemed for a while to be weathering the economic slowdown well - have taken a turn for the worse.

Marconi, once Britain's best-known tech firm, has shrivelled almost to nothing, and even previously blue-chip names such as Vodafone have started to lose their sheen.