The FTSE 100 fell for a fourth straight day yesterday to close down 0.8% at 5,260.
Energy stocks fell as crude oil fell below $75 a barrel, with BP and Royal Dutch Shell down 1.1%, and BG Group 0.8% lower.
Miners, too, suffered. ENRC was the sector's biggest faller, down 2.3%, with Rio Tinto 2.2% lower, Xstrata losing 2% and Anglo American down 1.9%. Kazakhmys bucked the trend, however, climbing 0.8%.
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Banks were largely higher. Lloyds fell 1.3%, but HSBC added 0.2%, Barclays rose 1.7% and RBS gained 2%.
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Europe
In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 39 points to 3,781; and the German Xetra Dax was 64 points lower at 5,631.
US
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 10,196; the S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 1,096; and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.25% higher at 2,210.
Asia
Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.8% to 10,325, while the broader Topix index lost 2% to 916. In China, the Shanghai Composite index slid 2.4% to 3,019; and the CSI 300 closed down 2.5% at 3,242.
Commodities
Brent spot was trading at $72.38 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $74.42. Spot gold was trading at $1,092 an ounce, silver was at $16.91 and platinum was at $1,525.
Currencies
In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.6204 and against the euro at 1.149. The dollar was trading at 0.7094 against the euro and 89.72 against the Japanese yen.
UK news
And in the UK, figures from the Office of National Statistics indicate that the UK has officially exited recession. Preliminary estimates of GDP for the fourth quarter of 2009 show that the economy grew by 0.1%, after six consecutive quarters of contraction. Analysts were expecting a rise of 0.4%.
