The same fears forced down the FTSE 100, which plunged 185 points, or 4.7 per cent, after the opening with banks and insurance companies leading the way. European stock markets were also down around 5 per cent, following big falls in Asia with Hong Kong's Hang Seng down more than 10 per cent and the Nikkei in Tokyo losing 6 per cent.
Friday's GDP figures showed that the British economy shrank by 0.5 per cent in the three months to the end of September, the first time quarterly GDP has fallen in more than 16 years.
Sterling has fallen 12 per cent from $1.72 in a week and was put under pressure when Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, admitted it was likely that the country was heading for a prolonged and painful recession.
Gordon Brown piled further pressure on sterling by reiterating Mr King's comments.
The Bank of England is being pressured to cut interest rates further and the Government is attempting to stem fears about the falling currency. On Friday Stephen Timms, Financial Secretary, said the fall in the pound was not a condemnation of the country’s economic policy.
“I don’t think it’s a vote of no confidence,” Mr Timms said. “We don’t have a target for exchange rates. Exchange rates are volatile and go up and down. And, of course, there are exporting companies in the UK that will benefit from what has happened. And I don’t know what will happen in the future.” continues here
![Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War](http://patbuchananbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/bk-pjb-chuw165.jpg "Churchill_Hitler_the_Unnecessary_War\")
Post a comment on AAWR
0 Responses to "Shares plunge as pound buckles"Post a Comment
We welcome contributions from all sides of the debate, at AAWR comment is free, AAWR may edit and/or delete your comments if abusive, threatening, illegal or libellous according to our understanding of, no emails will be published. Your comments may be published on other nationalist media sites worldwide.