Banking, energy shares keep London market down

LONDON, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The London stocks market kept its downward trend by midday on Friday, led by poor performance from banking and energy shares.

The FTSE 100 was down 303.80 points, or 7.04 percent, to 4010.00 points by midday, after an early 10 percent plunge which saw the FTSE 100 index dip below 4,000 for the first time since 2003.

Shares of the HBOS shed 18.31 percent, to be followed by the Barclays, down 16.86 percent, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which lost 16.77 percent.

Energy companies including the BP, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group and Cairn Energy also witnessed remarkable fall in their shares.