European markets have lost much of their early gains, as the relief rally following the week’s volatility begins to fade.
A sense of calm had returned as Chinese shares closed higher despite the country abandoning its controversial circuit breakers, and the authorities supporting the yuan.
But ahead of the US non-farm payrolls, investor caution has returned. Oil has come off the boil, with Brent crude now unchanged at $33.75 a barrel after climbing as high as $34.72.
So the FTSE 100 is currently up just 4.24 points at 5958.32, down from the day’s peak of 6013. Germany’s Dax is now 12.7 points lower, France’s Cac is down 14 points and the US futures are ahead just 71 points after earlier forecasts of a 130-plus point rise.
With oil coming off its best levels, commodity companies are among the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 with Royal Dutch Shell A shares 485p lower at £14.06, BP off 7.8p at 329.9p, Anglo American down 9.35p at 232.30p and BHP Billiton falling 12.4p to 661.3p.
Sports Direct International is down 19.8p at 492.2p after a profit warning, but Tesco is still up 6.4p at 145.6p following a positive note from analysts at Barclays.
