The UK's leading shares opened sharply down this morning as fears over the Eurozone debt crisis grew.
The FTSE 100 index was down by almost 80 points shortly after the markets opened. Only one of the top 100 stocks by market capitalisation, Icap, was in positive territory.
Fears over the Eurozone have seen the dollar rise, with commodities denominated in the US currency falling as a result. Brent crude futures were down over 2%, reaching $110 a barrel.
Asian markets also fell overnight, with the Nikkei down 1.5% at the close.
Standard & Poor's cut its rating outlook for Italy to negative from stable over the weekend, while Fitch downgraded Greece's credit rating to B-plus and put the country on rating watch negative on Friday.
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