Commodity-based stocks were lower – causing the top flight index to slump by 38.6 points to 6595 – after the price of Brent crude oil dived to a five-and-a-half year low of near to 57 US dollars a barrel.
The latest fall in the price of oil was accompanied by fears over the eurozone outlook after Greece was forced to announce early national elections due to the failure of the country’s politicians to elect a new president.
The FTSE 100 has been on the front foot for eight sessions in a row but was sharply lower today after Royal Dutch Shell fell 43.25p to 2241p, Tullow Oil dropped 10.8p to 411.5p and BP dipped 4.6p to 413.4p.