THE London Stock Exchange had a nervous opening today after yesterday's slump left the market at its lowest close for more than five years.

Around £37bn was wiped from the value of shares as another slide on Wall Street sent shudders through investors on this side of the Atlantic.

By the close of trading yesterday, the FTSE 100 Index of leading shares plunged through post-September 11 lows and was down 154.2 points at just 4392.6. The lowest it had reached in the aftermath of September 11 was 4433.7 on September 21.

Yesterday's slide brought the Footsie to its lowest point since April 28 1997.

The Footsie had already suffered during morning trading but another slide on Wall Street hit shares further, after the Dow Jones and Nasdaq fell in afternoon trading.

By the close of trading, just six stocks were ahead. Analysts said the fall was on the back of continued nervousness about company earnings and accounting, and there was a complete lack of buyers.

Tom Hougaard, trader at financial bookies City Index, said: "People are still nervous about entering the market and rightly so."

Alex Scott, analyst at Seven Investment Management, said: "I think we have got something of a buyers' strike."