Markets fall more than 1% as negative sentiment returns

Ongoing disruption in the Middle East and the higher oil price has dragged on global markets, with many seeing losses of more than 1%.

The FTSE 100 opened also with a loss this morning, down 0.8% or 48.9 points to 5,886.86. Whitbread was the biggest loser, dropping over 5%, followed by TUI Travel (-2.95%), Wolseley (-2.93%) and Diageo (-2.89%). Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread which also operates Premier Inn hotels, Beefeater and Brewers Fayr, saw weaker like-for-like sales towards the end of its trading period, slowing from 7.9% to 3% in the last 11 weeks. However, Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered reported profits in line with expectations of $6.12bn (£3.76bn), an increase of 29%, and 2011 got off to a...