Morning Markets: FTSE falls on Nikkei correction

The FTSE 100 fell sharply on opening this morning, with another poor day in Asia cancelling out yesterday’s gains for London’s blue chip index.

In early trading, the FTSE index was sitting 48.71 points (1.04%) lower to 4,637.

Scottish & Southern Energy shares fell 5.03% to £10.77 after the company went ex-dividend, while alternative asset manager Man Group and Private Equity giant 3i Group fell 3.5% to 250.6p and 2.86% to 275p respectively.

But better than expected results sent Eurasian Natural Resources stock, soaring 6.76% to 879.5p.

In the US, the Dow Jones ended Tuesday trading strongly, up 82.6 points (1%) to 9,217.94.

American Express was up 4.28% to $31.69, and JPMorgan Chase added 2.38% to $41.70.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 plunged to a three-week low, closing down 80 points (0.8%) at 10,204.