“Technical analysts say that what’s more important is whether or not the market breaches its March 17 closing low of 5414 – which was hit at the time of the Bear Stearns collapse.

If the FTSE 100 closes below 5414 (and stays below for several sessions), the market will be trading at its lowest point since 2005 and chartists say there will be no discernible support level.

That means there is unlikely to be any technical bounce and that a market turnaround will have to be driven by some genuinely significant good news, rather than a sense that “the market is just too cheap at these levels”.