UK shares were down again in early trading on Friday, as the nation woke up to the possibility of a hung parliament.

Continuing worries over Greece's debt crisis has seen European shares down most of the week, and today as the results of the UK general election came in the FTSE 100 remained down.

By 09:30 BST the top 100 blue-chip companies had lost 0.85 per cent down 44.5 points to 5,216.49.

Leading the fallers was Capita Group, down 4.78 per cent, while Enquest and Cable and Wireless Worldwide both dragged, down more than four per cent.

The small number of gainers on the FTSE 100 were led by HSBC Holdings, adding 2.32 per cent, while miners also helped the shares index, with Randgold Resources up 2.15 per cent, Rio Tinto gaining 1.71 per cent, Vedanta Resources adding 1.15 per cent and Xstrata 1.03 per cent.

The sterling fell against the euro this morning, on news of a hung parliament, and the pound also hit a 12-month low against the dollar.

Mark Bolsom, head of the UK trading desk at Travelex Global Business Payments said: "The pound has been crippled this morning by the spectre of political uncertainty.

"A hung parliament really is the worst possible result for the pound and FX markets are very volatile this morning. As expected, the pound has suffered, and sterling's losses are heating up in early morning trading.

"Investors are concerned that a hung parliament will paralyse the formation of a credible deficit reduction plan and we are beginning to see that concern manifest itself in the fall of sterling this morning, as they seek refuge in traditionally safe haven currencies."
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