London’s equity market started the second half with pronounced losses, after further gloom in the UK housing market and a steady climb towards record oil prices on commodity exchanges.

The FTSE 100 index, which suffered the biggest first-half fall in fourteen years, ended the first session of the second half 146 points lower at 5,479.9, a loss of 2.6 per cent. The mid cap FTSE 250 fell 2.5 per cent to 8,920.8.