MARKET OPEN
FTSE100, as tipped by spreadbetters, fell in early deals on a truncated trading day, with big supermarket Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY) the biggest laggard.
Its shares slid 3.02% down the aisle to 253.8p at a time when retail is in focus during the festive period.
It comes after three days ago, the UK’s competition (CMA) watchdog started an investigation into the group's sale of its pharmacies to the owner of Lloyds Pharmacy.
FTSE100 was down around 17 points at 6,257 at the time of writing, on a day where volumes were low.
Brent crude was down 2.42% to US$36.71 at the time of writing as the price of the black gold continues to affect investor sentiment.
Concerns about a glut were heightened yesterday after US data showed stockpiles of US oil rose by 2.6mln barrels in the week to Christmas Day compared to the previous week. Analysts had expected the opposite - a drop of around 1mln barrels.
The biggest corporate gainer was mobile phone giant Vodafone (LON:VOD), which added 1.45% to 220.65p.
It was on the back if reports that suggested it was in talks about a merger with cable company Liberty Global.
Online delivery firm Ocado (LON:OCDO) dropped 4.95% to 299.40p as it emerged US listed online auction giant Amazon was expanding its UK grocery offering.
Miners were also down with silver group Fresnillo (LON:FRES) dropping 1.83% and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), the copper major, shedding 1.17%.
In small caps, URU Metals (LON:URU) shared dropped over 9% to stand at 0.5p each as its interim results disappointed.
Vast Resources (LON:VAST) dropped over 8% to 0.83p as it also posted interim results for the six months to end September.
Ortac Resources (LON:OTC) added over 28% to 0.05p. Yesterday, it said it was looking forward to more good news from the Zamsort operation in Zambia where a commercial scale demonstration plant has been built.
At Zamsort, which will make copper cement and cobalt hydroxide filter cake, the company has a ten year small mining licence and commissioning is expected in the second quarter of 2016.
MARKET PREVIEW
Britain's blue chip index is poised to open lower on a shortened trading day after shares in Europe and the US fell yesterday.
As traders gear up to see the New Year in, FTSE100 is tipped to open around 18 points lower by spreadbetters at IG index, having dropped 41 points to 6,274 on Wednesday as the fall in the price of crude sent ripple through markets.
The London Stock Exchange is due to have wrapped up trading by 12.30pm today - New Year's Eve..
Brent crude fell yesterday 2.3% to US$36.92 while the West Texas Intermediate price dropped 2.7% to US$36.85.
It came as Saudi repeated its commitment to keeping output of the black gold high, fuelling oversupply of the market. Meanwhile, across the pond data showed an increase in crude supplies.
In the US, the benchmark Dow lost 117 points on the day, while the broader S&P500 lost 15 and the tech heavy Nasdaq shed 42 points at 5,066.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index is down 25, while in Japan, which is closed today, the Nikkei 225 added 51 points at 19,053.