Shares in Vodafone fell below the psychologically important 200p mark amid concern over the fate of its sale of Spanish subsidiary Infostrada to Italian power utility Enel.
Today's fall means Vodafone shares are now well below the exit price of 220p at which Eircom can withdraw from selling Eircell to Vodafone.
At lunchtime Vodafone shares were leading the FTSE 100 fallers' list, down 10p or 5.13 per cent to 194p and hitting their lowest ebb in more than two years, since the closing days of 1998.
Dealers said the announcement by Vodafone that antitrust action could yet scupper the euro 12.1 billion sale hit the stock heavily today, once brokers have had time to mull the possible effects on its debt burden.
As Vodafone warned on Friday, while it and Enel are "committed" to the deal, anti-trust investigations are likely to be focusing as much on Enel's dominance of the electricity market as on the rather stronger challenge a combined operator would offer the leading player, Telecom Italia SpA.
AFP