FTSE 100 Drops As Oil Prices Rise, Selling Continues In Asian Markets As Sensex And Nifty Remain Volatile Business News

London’s FTSE 100 ended lower on Tuesday after trading near the flat line for most of the session before the sell-off intensified in the final hours.

The blue chip index fell nearly 1% at the close and finished down 64 points to 7,101, while BP and Royal Dutch Shell were two of the worst performing stocks in the index. The domestically focused FTSE 250 also lost 0.5%.

US markets opened lower following weak economic data and oil prices continued to rise.

Weak economic data also weighed on indexes in other parts of Europe, with the French CAC and German DAX both falling around 1%.

Global crude prices hit a three-year high of $ 77 a barrel as Opec + failed to reach a deal and experts feared a further rise in prices.

Across the pond, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 fell on Tuesday, dragged down by financials and energy stocks, while the Nasdaq edged higher to hit another closing record.

Data showed that US service sector activity grew at a moderate pace, but missed expectations in June, likely hampered by labor and raw material shortages. A regulatory crackdown from Beijing also resulted in a massive sell-off of the shares of several Chinese companies listed in the United States, including Didi Global.

Meanwhile, most Asia-Pacific stocks fell on Wednesday amid China’s scrutiny of the tech sector and growing concerns over crude prices. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading down around 1%, while Hang Seng was down 0.7% at noon. The Shanghai Composite, however, rallied and traded slightly higher.

Indian indices also opened deep in the red, weighed down by poor indices from their Asian and US peers, but oil prices, however, the Sensex rallied slightly after the first hour to enter green territory. The index was trading around 52,810 levels and the larger Nifty50 index was holding near the 15,800 mark.