BP leak and banking blues drag FTSE lower

The FTSE 100 opened down 0.37% or 19.09 points to 5,139.76 as Friday’s sell-off on Wall Street dragged the index lower.

BP reversed some of last week's gains after engineers revealed this morning they had detected a leak in the Gulf of Mexico oil well. Its shares fell 2.98% to 395p.

Banks continued to weigh on the index following worse than expected results from US peers. Royal Bank of Scotland was down 0.96% to 43.29p, while Lloyds dropped 0.74% to 59.17p.

Bucking this trend, HSBC was one of just two risers in early morning trading; up 0.27% to 623.3p. Schroders also advanced by 0.58% to £12.08.

On Wall Street, US markets were once again hit by economic growth concerns at the close of trading last week.

The Dow Jones closed 2.52% or 261.41 points behind to 10,097.90 as growth fears coincided with weaker than expected results from financial giants Bank of America and Citigroup. BofA was the biggest casualty on the index, down 9.16% to $13.98.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were in decline today following the sharp fall for US indices on Friday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.98% or 163.43 points to 20,052.41 while Sydney's All Ordinaries index fell 1.45% or 64.3 points to 4,372.70. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was closed for a public holiday.