From correspondents in London, England, 02:00 AM IST

The London Stock Exchange felt the shock waves of the Dubai World debt moratorium call Thursday, with the FTSE 100 index dropping 3.2 percent.

Banking shares were particularly hard-hit as the index closed at 5,194.13 points, down almost 171 points from Wednesday's 5,364.81 points.

Barclays and the nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland both fell almost 8 percent in Thursday's trading, which was also interrupted for some three hours by a technical breakdown. It was the second such major technical breakdown within 14 months on the London exchange.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)