As often happens, Wall Street's opening moves have proved a strong influence on the London market, in this case a negative one.
After yesterday's better than expected US private sector employment data came official figures showing a different picture of prospects. Weekly claims for unemployment benefit rose by 18,000 to 409,000, higher than analyst expectations of around 400,000. On the other hand the four week average declined to a two and a half year low.
The figures come ahead of tomorrow's widely watched non-farm payroll numbers, which are expected to show a rise of more than 140,000 in December.
The mixed picture has left Wall Street around 10 points lower and taken the shine off the FTSE 100 - the leading index is now up just 5.29 points at 6049.15 after earlier touching 6090.49.
