The FTSE 100 is set to start black Friday in the red, taking its cue from Asian markets, which wilted overnight.
The Shanghai Composite fell 4%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off 1.8% after regulators launched an investigation into the activities of two of China’s largest brokers.
Commentators said the probe was part of a wider crackdown aimed at removing the huge level of speculation from the share market that led summer rout.
Elsewhere in Asia sentiment was generally negative, with the economic woes of the Eurozone uppermost in traders’ minds. Speculation has it that a larger than anticipated basket of stimulus will be required to kick start growth.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.3%, although volumes were low as Wall Street, closed for Thanksgiving, failed to provide its catalyst effect in the region.
Here in the UK the blue-chip stocks index will tumble 50 points on open to trade at 6,343.14.
The black Friday pre-Christmas sales, another import from the US, will no doubt provide some interesting TV footage later.
However it is unlikely to make a great impact to the top lines of the nation’s shopkeepers with many deciding to throttle back and concentrate the stock clearance efforts after Christmas.