By Rob Arkwright Hargreave Hale Ltd THE FTSE 100 has fallen below the 5400 point level this week following further technology woes and difficulties in the banking sector.

The Lloyds TSB £19 billion bid for Abbey National was blocked on the grounds that the merger would remove one of the main sources of competition to the big four.

This still leaves the other smaller mortgage banks, Bradford & Bingley, Northern Rock and Alliance & Leicester vulnerable to a takeover by the big four, as well as overseas targets.

Emerging markets are also suffering badly, with currencies, bonds and stocks all falling. HSBC and Standard Chartered, have been hit.

Confirmation that Singapore is in recession has also increased fears of a profit warning from HSBC.

Among the collapsed technology sector, Psion, the hand-held computer maker, which has dominated this market for more than 20 years, announced it is to stop production of its previous main product due to a huge fall in consumer demand.

Another previous technology favourite, Baltimore Technologies, the Internet security company, saw its founder and chief executive, Fran Rooney quit this week. The shares have fallen from around £14 last year to 25p.

Finally, Marks & Spencer, released its first quarter trading figures this week, which showed a continuing decline in sales. It revealed a 9.1 per cent decline in clothing and footwear sales for the July quarter and although food sales rose, the company is in worse shape than when chairman Luc Vandevelde took over 16 months ago.