As London closed, US stock markets had resumed their slide, unsettled by more weak economic news and concerns over General Motors after an auditors report voiced "substantial doubt" about the struggling carmaker's ability to stay afloat.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 281.4 - or 4.09pc - to 6594.44, cancelling out the gains from Wednesday's rally. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 30.3 - or 4.25pc - to 682.55.
London's index of leading stock started the day down around 1pc on disappointed that China did not unveil a fresh stimulus package.
This widened to 2.5pc after the Bank of England cut interest rates a half point to 0.5pc and unveiled plans to pump up to 150bn into the economy. While the rate cut had been priced into the market, the view was that any benefit from an increase in money supply would take time to feed through.
Sentiment was further soured by the ECB which painted a bleak picture about the eurozone economy - Britain's biggest trading partner - as ...more