Around the World's Markets: London

SHARES FELL sharply yesterday amid growing worries over the health of the Latin American economies.The FTSE 100 index dropped 99.9 points to 6445.6 as fears of financial crisis in Argentina depressed sentiment. The blue chip index was unsettled by an opening fall on Wall Street and remained in negative territory for most of the session.

The selling spree spread to the FTSE 250, which fell 41.6 to 6048.1 after six consecutive closing highs. The Small Cap ended unchanged at 2735.1. Market Report, page 19