The possible fallout from Dubai's problems is not confined to the banks, and any exposure to the country they might have.
The London Stock Exchange - which fell yesterday after its results showed the effects of growing competition - has weakened further today on concerns about a 20.56% stake held in the company by Dubai Borse. There were fears the Borse - which took the stake in September 2007 as part of a complex deal involving Sweden's OMX and Nasdaq - might be a forced seller if the country's financial problems escalate. The LSE's shares are down another 36.5p to 778p, making it the biggest faller in the FTSE 100.
Still on the subject of stakes, Cadbury has slipped 6p to 805p after last night's news after the market closed that billionaire and activist investor Nelson Peltz had cut his stake in the confectioner from 3.03% to 2.68%.
Updated 11.05 am
As if poorly received results and uncertainty over a key stake were not enough, the LSE has now admitted it is suffering from technical difficulties, with share trading pretty much frozen at the moment. It said it had placed all order-driven securities into an auction period, with all quote driven prices said to be only indicative at the moment.
This is the latest technical problem to beset the exchange with an outage two weeks ago halting nearly 300 stocks. A year ago a systems failure caused both the UK and South African markets to stop trading for around seven hours.
