Another strong sterling performance added to Footsie's tribulations

Another strong sterling performance added to Footsie's tribulations. It was the escalating Asian crisis which gave the order book such a bruising launch on what become known as Brown Monday. On the following Thursday Footsie endured a 157.3 fall and at one time on the Friday was smashed a record 457.9 before ending off 85.3. In April US interest rate fears caused a 141.5 fall.Many observers believe the inherent volatility of the order book exaggerates Footsie moves. Supporting shares, mostly traded through the market-making system, suffered much less severely, with the mid cap index off 19.9 points at 5,917.0 and the small cap 14 lower at 2,767.4.The Footsie fall, calculated by Datastream, was pounds 24.3bn; the overall market decline was pounds 27.58bn.Only 11 Footsie constituents made headway. Best of the bunch was Asda, up 6p at 191.25p as independent research said it was the best performer of the top four supermarkets.

Buy advice from Dresdner Kleinwort Benson was another influence. An upbeat trading statement lifted Tesco 10p at one time but the shares succumbed to the general unease, ending 3p off at 540p.SmithKline Beecham was another to give up much of its earlier gain At one time 34.5p higher, it closed with a 3p plus at 718p. The Glaxo Wellcome imbroglio continues to dominate sentiment but a presentation on its diabetes drug was also a factor.Other Footsie stocks to struggle higher include Nycomed and Whitbread.Pound-sensitive shares were hammered. British Steel tumbled 10p to 140p; GKN 42p to 820p and Siebe 60p to 1,266p Rolls-Royce dived 13.25p to 264p. Besides sterling, Rolls was hit by Boeing's decision to curb production.

The aero engine group is also a casualty of Asia's woes as airlines delay orders for new aircraft.Cable & Wireless fell 35p to 685p as ABN Amro placed 7 million shares at 700p. The group's cable offshoot, C&W Communications fell 23.5p at 474.5p as the market prepared for the sale of 14.25 per cent of the capital today But the market slide could force a rethink. Goldman Sachs is handling the placing of Canada's BCE stake and was said to have settled on a price of 475p.BTR ended 6p off at 180p (after 175p) and TI fell 27p to 552p.HSBC and Standard Chartered were obvious casualties on their extensive Far East exposure. The ordinary HSBC shares tumbled 63p to 1,447p and Standard 27.5p to 666p Other financials were weak after their recent strength. Instead, they would redenominate the total share capital and have the same number of shares in issue after conversion.. MORE THAN 100 leading businessmen yesterday launched a pounds 1m campaign against the European single currency, claiming the venture is too risky, writes Fran Abrams.

At the launch of Business for Sterling the former British Rail chairman and Labour minister Lord Marsh pointed to a new pounds 500m investment by Honda as proof that Britain could survive outside Economic and Monetary Union. The group is backed by the heads of the Institute of Directors and Federation of Small Businesses, but says its resources will never match those pumped in by Europe for pro-EMU campaigns.. BLUE CHIPS suffered their third heaviest fall since order-driven trading was introduced in October last year. The report says: "Regardless of the position on the timing of UK entry, action should be taken to reduce the circulation of sterling coin as soon as possible."The report also notes the ECB's opinion that the Bank of England Act is incompatible with the Maastricht Treaty. No provision has been made, it says, for the integration of the Bank of England into the European System of Central Banks.One issue companies raised with the DTI was whether they would be able to convert their share capital into shares of "no par value", which would avoid the need to redenominate individual shares. It said it will shortly be conducting a new survey of financial institutions to assess their readiness for the launch of the single currency next January.One problem it highlights is that there would be a severe shortfall in the ability to ship out the new euro coins when Britain joins the single currency.It would be 2003 at the very earliest before euro notes and coin could be issued.

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