FTSE falls following Asian and US losses

UK blue chips saw their shares decline this morning following falls in the US and Asia overnight.

Concerns about the European banking system are thought to be behind the falls while it also emerged food prices in shops are pushing up inflation. The FTSE 100 sank around 40 points (0.80%) to 5364.80 with Barclays leading the losers as a political row develops over the appointment of Bob Diamond as the bank's new CEO. Its shares declined 3.18% as the market opened while Diageo, Invensys, Rexam and Eurasian Natural Resources were also amongst the top five losers. BT Group was the highest climber, up 0.72%, followed by Arm Holdings and British Land Co. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones cl...