The FTSE 100 slipped another 0.5% yesterday to close at 5,473 as miners and energy stocks weighed the market down.
A drop in crude oil prices hit energy stocks, with Royal Dutch Shell down 1.8%, and falls for BP, BG Group and Tullow Oil.
Miners started well, but the rally fizzled out. Gold miner Randgold Resources was the day's biggest faller, down 2.8%.
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And banks were hit by a profit warning from Socit Gnrale, with falls for HSBC, Standard Chartered and Barclays. But Lloyds and RBS saw rises of 0.1% and 2.4% respectively.
Read the latest stock market news and charts here.
Europe
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 was unchanged at 4,000; and the German Xetra Dax was up 20 points at 5,963.
US
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% to close at 10,680; the S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 1,145; and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.1% higher at 2,307.
Asia
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 and Topix indexes both rose 1.6% to 10,907 and 959 respectively. In China, the Shanghai Composite index added 1.3% to 3,215; and the CSI 300 closed up 1.4% at 3,469.
Commodities
Brent spot was trading at $78.24 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $80.16. Spot gold was trading at $1,139 an ounce, silver was at $18.56 and platinum was at $1,577.
Currencies
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.6289 and against the euro at 1.1213. The dollar was trading at 0.6887 against the euro and 91.88 against the Japanese yen.
UK news
And today, Barratt, Britain's biggest housebuilder, said the average sale price of its homes has risen by 4% in the last six months, and it is forecasting a rise of another 6% by the end of the financial year. Forward sales were up 43% in the six months to December. Mark Clare, Barratt's chief executive, said: "the market has improved but is still subject to the major uncertainties of both mortgage finance and the general economic outlook."
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