THE London Stock Exchange suffered yet another turbulent day after a late bout of panic selling sent the FTSE 100 Index to another record low yesterday.

During a second successive Black Monday, the Footsie closed after losing 202.8 points, nearly five per cent of its value, to reach 3895.5 - its lowest closing point since September 1996.

Blue-chip stocks had been drifting lower for much of the session, but falls accelerated dramatically towards the end of the day.

Three-quarters of an hour before close, the Footsie had been trading steadily at 4025, but slumped as confidence once more collapsed as investors continue to worry about second quarter earnings reports and the fall-out from recent accounting scandals.

David Buik, of financial bookies Cantor Index, said: "The market turned viciously when it became obvious that there was no sustained buying out there or even the resemblance of portfolio bargain hunting."

A range of sectors were affected by the latest sell-off, which saw £48.4bn wiped from the value of London's 100 leading stocks.

Oil companies were weighing heavily as Shell fell nine per cent, or 39p, to 380p, and BP slumped 36p to 428p.

Pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline and rival AstraZeneca were also down ahead of their interim results later this week.

Banks were also hit, with Barclays down 18p at 450p, Royal Bank of Scotland off 69p at £14.95 and HBOS 31p lower, at 575p.

Only Abbey National survived the sell-off, easing just 5p to 690p, as investors continued to digest the departure of boss Ian Harley on Friday.

Six Footsie firms found positive territory and included cigarette groups Gallaher, 9p higher at 535p, and BAT, up 8p to 618p.

Among smaller stocks reporting, FTSE 250 transport giant Stagecoach plunged 27 per cent after revealing chief executive Keith Cochrane had quit. Stagecoach shares were 14p lower at 37p.