LONDON (March 2): SHARE prices plunged towards record lows yesterday when the Stock Exchange opened, horrified for the prospect of several months of stalemate politics as the result of the general election. The computer of a leading bank, Hoare's, estimated the market fall after half an hour was GBP2,551 million. Jobbers and dealers described the opening minutes as 'a veritable bloodbath all around the industrial markets'. The scenes on the floor of the Stock Exchange were almost unprecedented with a mad crush of heaving bodies and flailing arms as dealers tried to get in and out of the pitched battles around the domestic equity pitches. It was all marking down at the beginning with most jobbers' tactics apparently to slice about 10 per cent from their quotes to test the opening response to the shock of Labour winning the election. Immediate losses extended to 20 pence and more in some of the leading equities and banks. Oil shares were completely flat with British Petroleum down 30 pence.
