Headline shares were still lower but had recovered from earlier lows at lunch, following a plunge on Wall Street last night, and the uncertainty of a hung government in the UK along with the continuing financial crisis in Greece. At time of writing, the FTSE 100 was down 7.54 at 5253.45 points In the US last night, the DJIA closed down 348 points at 10,520, having earlier registered a fall of 1,000 points. The Nasdaq Composite lost 83 points at 2,320 and the S&P500 fell 38 points at 1,128. US regulators have launched an enquiry after yesterdays almost unprecedented falls which had a predictable knock on affect on Asian and UK markets. At the time of writing it still seems unclear as to what the actual cause of the drop was, with some blaming a carelessly placed trade or series of trades, and others claiming automated trading malfunction. Investors will also be keeping an eye on key US employment data due later today.

LONDON MARKETS

The pound dropped to a year low at the start of trading with a hung parliament looking the most likely eventuality following the General Election. This lead to a sell off for Sterling. The prospect of a hung parliament coupled with shock losses in the States and the Greek financial crisis lead London's main index trading lower during the morning session, although proving somewhat more resilient than many predicted prior to open. Those shares seeing falls this morning included Capita Group (LON:CPI) down 4.96% at 776p, Wolseley (LON:WOS) down 4.62% at 1465p, Thomas Cook Group Plc (LON:TCG) down 4.56% at 221.7p, Cable and Wireless down 3.85% at 75.25p and Land Securities Group Plc (LON:LAND) down 3.67% at 604.5p Of the those shares making gains, miners featured heavily, with Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) leading the way up 4.49% at 3246p, Xstrata Plc (LON:XTA) up 3.74% at 1031.5p, BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) up 3.39% at 1936p and Vedanta up 3.12% at 2416p. HSBC was also up 3.71% at 651.7p on the back of positive figures.

Foreign exchange markets reacted badly to the prospect of a hung parliament causing the pound to crash through the $1.50 level in early morning trading and close in on its 12 month low.

At one point sterling was down almost 2% but after the initial fall it recovered slightly to $1.4733…

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