Fear of flu wipes £24bn off shares
FEARS over a bird flu epidemic in China and the health of US economy saw almost £24billion wiped off the value of Britain’s top companies yesterday.
The FTSE 100 was down 1.49 per cent after figures showed America created far fewer jobs in March than expected.
The London market was 94 points lower at 6249, while on Wall Street the Dow Jones also weakened.
Economic fears were compounded by nervousness about an outbreak of bird flu in China which has so far claimed six lives.
A third day of falls has seen the FTSE shed £40billion in value since Tuesday.