The pound plunged again today and London shares fell amid renewed concerns that the banking crisis has much further to run.

Following a bad day on Wall Street yesterday when the Dow Jones lost 241.81 points to 11,386.25, the FTSE 100 index was also on the slide. With banks leading the way down, it fell 74.8 points to 5430.8.

Meanwhile, the dollar continued its rout against the pound, with sterling plunging to fresh two-year lows. Down 1.17 cents today at $1.8423, the pound is currently at its lowest point since July 2006.

Concerns about the eurozone economy also hurt the euro, with the dollar rising 0.88 cents to $1.4682 against the single currency.

Stocks tumbled across Asia this morning in response to last night's Wall Street woe. A warning by Asian-focused HSBC that bankruptcies are set to rise added to the nervousness.

Kentaro Kogi, a Tokyo-based analyst for HSBC, today cut his ratings on four regional Japanese banks, saying increasing business failures among property companies will drive up banks' provisions and costs to write off non-performing loans over the next two years.

The MSCI Asia Pacific index lost 1.3%, almost wiping out yesterday's 1.7% gain, and setting it up for its largest drop in a week.

US stocks were driven down on fears insurance giant American International Group will lose billions of dollars this quarter because of credit losses.

That sparked concern financial markets will remain weak, and drove down the sector's shares throughout Asia.

In Japan, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group fell 3.2%.

Property companies in Tokyo and Hong Kong also tumbled.