Revived worries about European sovereign debt have overcome the positive boost to the market given by a raft of takeovers, pushing Wall Street lower in early trading and keeping UK shares on the backfoot.
Moody's has unsettled investors by cutting its rating on Anglo Irish Bank's debt, ahead of news expected on Thursday from the Irish government about the cost of its bank bail-out. So despite Unilever paying $3.7bn for US haircare group Alberto Culver and Wal-Mart making a $4bn push into South Africa with an offer for the country's Massmart retailer, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down around 25 points at the moment. The FTSE 100 is also lower, down 22.46 points at 5576.02. Traders said investors had decided to cash in some of their profits after the market's recent positive run.
Software companies received a lift after Barclays began coverage of the sector, putting overweight ratings on Autonomy, up 29p at £18.00, and Micro Focus International, 21.4p better at 387.4p.
