The FTSE 100 slipped 1.1% yesterday to close at 5,190 on further fears about Dubai's financial situation. Banks were consequently among the hardest hit, with Lloyds tumbling 5.9%, RBS falling 4.5% and Barclays losing 1.9%. HSBC, meanwhile, was one of the day's few climbers, up 0.1%.
Energy stocks weighed on the index, with BG group losing 3% and Royal Dutch Shell down 1.8%, while BP fell 1.6%. Mining stocks were mixed, however; ENRC and Anglo American gained 1.9% and 0.6% respectively, but the rest of the sector saw modest losses.
Utilities performed well, with Severn Trent gaining 1% and National Grid adding 0.4%; but the biggest climber of the day was British Airways, which rose 2.2%.
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Europe
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 41 points to 3,680; and the German Xetra Dax was 60 points lower at 5,626.
US
In the US, the Dow Jones gained 0.3% to 10,344; the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 1,095; and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% to 2,144.
Asia
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 2.4% to close at 9,572; while the broader Topix index added 2.1% to 857. In China, the Shanghai Composite index gained 1.3% to 3,235; and the CSI 300 rose 1.4% to 3,560.
Commodities
Brent spot was trading at $79.17 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $77.64. Spot gold was trading at $1,192 an ounce, silver was at $18.65 and platinum was at $1,467.
Currencies
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.6503 and against the euro at 1.0951. The dollar was trading at 0.6638 against the euro and 86.97 against the Japanese yen.
UK news
And today, house prices in Britain are still on the rise, but the rate of increase is slowing. The Nationwide Building Society's index was up 0.5% in November, making the average price of a home £162,764. The rate over three months fell from 3.5% to 2.8%. Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "This suggests that house prices are now rising at a more moderate pace than in the spring and summer months."
