London open: LSE and Easyjet lead stocks lower, oil prices spike

UK stocks dropped sharply on Thursday morning following a steep sell-off on Wall Street, with financial and airline shares providing a drag.The FTSE 100 was down 1% at 6,919.49 early on as it continues to pull back from the fresh all-time closing high of 7,037.67 reached on Monday.The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) was the worst performer on the Footsie after Dubai sold a £1.5bn stake, while Easyjet underwhelmed with a first-half update.Weighing on airline stocks in particular was a spike in the price of oil on Thursday after Saudi Arabia launched air strikes in Yemen overnight in an effort to defeat rebel Houthi fighters from the north of that country. Brent was up 3.6% at $58.50 a barrel.US markets suffered sharp declines on Wednesday as economic data continued to disappoint, with durable goods orders unexpectedly dropped 1.4% month-on-month in February."For the most part of this year the consensus view has been, and to some extent still is, that the US economy is in pretty good shape with robust jobs growth, helping propel a recovery that sets it apart from its peers," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson. ??"This rather rose tinted view has taken somewhat of a knock in the past few days with a raft of disappointing data announcements, and yesterday's durable goods numbers for February did nothing to dispel these concerns."In economic data on Thursday, investors will looking out for German consumer confidence, UK retail sales, US jobless claims and US service-sector figures.In other news, Greek Economy Minister George Stathakis said on Thursday he believed that Greece's government would reach an agreement with the Eurozone's finance ministers by "next week."LSEG and Easyjet dropLSEG sank 10% after Borse Dubai offloaded 60m shares in the exchange operator, equal to a 17.4% stake worth £1.5bn.Other financials such as Hargreaves Lansdown, St James's Place and Aviva were also in the red. Schroders and Prudential were registering losses after going ex-dividend, along with real estate group British Land.Banks were also under the weather early on: RBS fell after confirming it expects to make at least $3.2bn from the partial sale of shares in US subsidiary Citizens, while Lloyds declined after the government sold a stake worth £569m in the lender.Easyjet was lower despite a first-half update in which the airline upgraded guidance for the first half. The company now anticipates a £20m favourable impact from currency movements, compared with £10m previously.The stock, along with sector peers IAG and Ryanair, was also out of favour as oil prices headed higher.In contrast, oil-related stock such as Weir Group, BG Group, BP, Shell and Petrofac were all making gains.Market MoverstechMARK 3,177.34 -1.24%FTSE 100 6,919.49 -1.02%FTSE 250 17,275.55 -1.30%FTSE 100 - RisersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,816.00p +2.71%Fresnillo (FRES) 728.00p +2.39%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,975.00p +1.91%BG Group (BG.) 910.20p +1.62%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,208.00p +1.10%BP (BP.) 452.60p +0.95%Centrica (CNA) 262.30p +0.81%SSE (SSE) 1,568.00p +0.32%Experian (EXPN) 1,144.00p +0.26%Severn Trent (SVT) 2,094.00p +0.19%FTSE 100 - FallersLondon Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,277.00p -10.28%easyJet (EZJ) 1,805.00p -4.50%ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,077.00p -4.44%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 581.50p -4.28%St James's Place (STJ) 940.50p -3.93%Schroders (SDR) 3,216.00p -3.80%Prudential (PRU) 1,677.00p -3.73%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,162.00p -3.73%British Land Co (BLND) 841.00p -2.94%Aviva (AV.) 547.50p -2.93%FTSE 250 - RisersSupergroup (SGP) 1,001.00p +7.23%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,018.00p +3.04%Premier Oil (PMO) 154.00p +2.67%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 142.10p +2.38%Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 222.00p +2.12%Soco International (SIA) 172.00p +1.53%Vedanta Resources (VED) 564.50p +1.35%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 664.50p +1.22%Hunting (HTG) 541.00p +1.22%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 360.30p +1.18%FTSE 250 - FallersBodycote (BOY) 719.50p -6.44%BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 304.00p -4.94%Ladbrokes (LAD) 104.30p -4.92%Countrywide (CWD) 531.00p -4.50%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,084.00p -4.07%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,436.00p -3.98%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 849.00p -3.85%Essentra (ESNT) 1,004.00p -3.83%Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 937.00p -3.70%SEGRO (SGRO) 424.00p -3.66%