The Icelandic Stock Exchange fell by 76% in early trading as it...

The Icelandic Stock Exchange fell by 76% in early trading as it re-opened after closing for two days last week.
The country's economy has almost collapsed, after lending on the money markets dried up.

Iceland has become one of the highest-profile victims of the credit crunch.

Last week, authorities took control of the operations of three major banks, Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir, in which hundreds of thousands of Britons have savings.

Trading in six financial stocks - Kaupthing, Landsbanki, Glitnir, Straumur-Burdaras, Reykjavik Savings Bank (SPRON) and Exista - remains suspended.

Officials from Iceland are in Moscow for talks on an emergency loan that could be worth billions of euros
Meanwhile, the UK Government has announced extra help for around 300,000 British firms and individuals with deposits in collapsed internet bank Icesave.

It is to lend the parent company Landsbanki £100m to help depositors get their money back, Alistair Darling said.

The Chancellor said the move would also involve taking a security over assets which the stricken bank has in Britain.

It has already been revealed that the UK Government has seized more than enough Icelandic assets to pay back British savers caught up in the country's banking collapse.

Some £4bn is understood to have been frozen using anti-terror laws last week, compared to the estimated £3bn that UK councils, charities and hundreds of thousands of individuals could lose.