(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened in the red on Tuesday with heavyweight oil stocks weighing on the FTSE 100 following a historic drop in US crude prices.
The large-cap index was down 74.00 points, or 1.3%, at 5,738.83. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 150.17 points, or 1.0%, at 15,672.56. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.4% at 760.61.
The Cboe UK 100 index was down 1.0% at 9,712.40. The Cboe 250 was down 0.6% at 13,524.25 and the Cboe Small Companies flat at 8,805.68.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.5%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 1.6% early Tuesday.
In the FTSE 100, gold miners Fresnillo and Polymetal International were the best performers, up 3.4% and 3.2% respectively, tracking spot gold prices higher.
Gold was quoted at USD1,697.29 an ounce Tuesday morning, up from USD1,692.55 late Monday.
London Stock Exchange Group was up 3.1% after the trading and clearing firm and index calculator said it delivered a good first-quarter performance against an "unprecedented market backdrop".
For the quarter ended March 31, total income increased 13% to GBP615 million. It said this was driven by increased equity trading in Capital Markets and higher clearing activity across listed and over-the-counter products, leading to higher net treasury income in the Post Trade unit.
LSEG said its integration planning for market data and trading technology provider Refinitiv is progressing well and still expects to complete the acquisition in the second half of 2020. The exchange confirmed it will pay its 2019 final dividend, citing a strong balance sheet.
At the other end of the large-cap index, oil majors were in the red, tracking oil prices lower.
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' shares were down 5.3%, BP down 5.2% and Shell 'A', down 5.0%. Shell is London's largest company by market capitalisation, while BP is the third largest.
Brent oil, the international crude benchmark, was quoted at USD24.00 a barrel early Tuesday, down sharply from USD26.22 late Monday.
At the same time, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery rebounded above zero on Tuesday, changing hands at USD1.67 a barrel after closing at negative USD37.63 in New York on Monday.
"With no demand and no storage, US oil prices turned negative for the first time in history - meaning traders were being paid to take the black stuff off of producers' hands," commented Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.
The massive sell-off was ahead of the expiry of the WTI May futures contract later Tuesday.
"European markets are trading lower because of the blow out that happened in oil markets yesterday and the dismal UK's unemployment number. Crude Oil's May contract closed in negative territory for the first time in the oil price history. Investors are worried about the consequence of this in emerging markets. Traders are also unsure about the impact of this on the US shale oil industry and there is hope that this would not open mines of bankruptcies," said AvaTrade analyst Naeem Aslam.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2411 Tuesday morning, lower than USD1.2458 at the London equities close Monday.
The UK unemployment rate edged higher in February just before the coronavirus began to hit the UK economy, according to the Office For National Statistics.
The unemployment rate in the UK increased to 4.0% in February, prior to the major impact of the new coronavirus outbreak, up from 3.9% in January. Consensus estimates had expected the jobless rate to remain at 3.9%.
In more timely data, UK job vacancies dived in the three months to March. The Office for National Statistics said the number of job vacancies plunged by 52,000 to 795,000 for the quarter.
The euro was quoted at USD1.0833, down from USD1.0873 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY107.34, down from JPY107.72.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 2.0%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.9%.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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