Consumers may be shunning its stores, but Woolworths has still found its way on to sir Alan Sugar's shopping list.

The Evening Standard revealed last month that the founder of Amstrad computers and star of The Apprentice was thought to be building a stake in the troubled High street chain.

Woolies is expected to confirm in a statement to the stock exchange that sugar has snapped up almost 4% of its shares, tempted by their bargain-basement price.

At more than 20p a year ago, they were changing hands for just 3.01p today, down a further 0.13p.

Vague talk in September was that Sugar's interest raised the possibility of a three-way bid battle emerging, as Woolies' biggest shareholder, Iranianborn property tycoon Ardeshir Naghshineh, and Iceland founder Malcolm Walker were thought to be circling the chain.

The pick 'n' mix retailer has long been considered among the walking dead, and this week Woolies' woes were added to with news that credit insurer Coface has joined its rivals in withdrawing cover for the retailer's suppliers.

Some in the City considered Sugar's move as further evidence of bottom fishing after British billionaire Joe Lewis bought into pubs group Mitchells & Butlers, 5p lower at 155p.

But the search is still on for some 17 million shares he snapped up.

Lewis is thought to have instructed lawyers to find out where they are.

The FTSE 100 fell off a cliff again today in a week the City will wish to forget.

It plummeted 333.1 to 3980.7, levels not seen since July 2003, leaving blue-chips down 20% on the week.

Trading screens were covered in red, with none of the top stocks posting gains.

Reflecting the extent of the panic, all banking shares were briefly suspended.

Halifax owner HBOS - the biggest winner of the last two days, got the wooden spoon today, sinking 33½p to 120p.

You would have thought the huge volumes of trades seen in recent days - six billion shares changed hands yesterday in London - would be good for the London Stock Exchange.

But its shares have taken a battering on news that rival nYse euronext has slashed its prices for high frequency traders.

Today it was again near the top of the Footsie losers board, down 78½p at 589½p. meanwhile, Sir Philip Green denied reports that he had splashed out on a stake in J Sainsbury, 14p off at 254p.

The Topshop and BHS billionaire was said to have paid £125 million to buy just under 3% of the supermarkets group at 250p a pop.

Shares suffered their biggest one-day loss in 21 years overnight in New York as the banking crisis and the fear of global recession took a terrible toll on investor confidence.

The Dow ended another turbulent session 678.91 down at 8579.19, its seventh consecutive day of losses and the first time it has dropped below 9000 in five years.

There is evidence that while investors have been prepared to sit on the sidelines during the past few weeks, they are now liquidating positions.

It had been hoped the Government's $700 billion bailout plan and the coordinated cut in interest rates by the world's central banks would restore confidence but this does not appear to be the case.

Banks are still refusing to lend to each other and there is clearly no Plan B should this move fail.

The sell-off spilled over into the Far east today.

In Indonesia, trading was suspended indefinitely, while Singapore officially moved into recession.

In Tokyo, shares nosedived as frantic investors dumped stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 881.06 at 8276.43. The falls prompted the Tokyo bourse and Osaka Securities Exchange briefly to suspend some futures and options trading.

Hong Kong shares sank after the drop in New York set off a new wave of selling.

The Hang seng index fell 1269.06 to 14,674.18.