A fall in mining and banking shares has helped push the London market sharply lower at the end of another volatile week

It was not exactly "sell in May and go away", as the old adage has it, but there were signs of some profit taking after the recent bull market run

London's six day rally, which has seen the FTSE 100 put on 10%, has spluttered to a halt in morning trading as miners, banks and utility stocks succumb to profit taking.

11am update: Telecoms group Colt makes a quarterly profit for the first time despite a drop in revenue as competition intensifies. By Hans Kundnani.

Technology companies were in the spotlight today, and not all for the right reasons.

Colt Telecom, Cable & Wireless and BT are all planning to launch new so-called 'converged' services, combining the functionality of mobile telephony with the cheapness of a fixed line phone, after yesterday winning licences in the first sale of mobile phone spectrum since the dotcom boom.

The new boss of Colt Telecom outlined his plan to get the business "back to basics" yesterday after announcing that earnings had fallen by almost a quarter over the past three months.

The corporate services company, Colt Telecom, has reorganised and beefed up its management in order to boost revenues two months after a profits warning, sending its stock surging upwards yesterday.