FTSE 100

European financials are among the day's biggest fallers as benchmark French and German indices struggle amid intensifying geopolitical concerns.

The FTSE 100 was off around 1% this morning while oil prices climbed, as unrest in the Middle East threatens to escalate.

Invesco Perpetual's star manager Neil Woodford has warned that the UK market is likely to see a rise in short-term volatility as the US withdraws monetary support.

Better-than-expected data from China and the Eurozone helped the FTSE 100 rebound from a three-day sell-off that saw the index hit a six-week low earlier this week.

Aberdeen Asset Management was among the worst fallers on the FTSE 100 today, down nearly 5% in morning trading, as investors react to the recent sell-offs in EMs and panic over its impact on the group.

Emerging markets are currently in a cyclical bear market, with more pain possible, but the sell-off offers investors a good opportunity to add to positions for the long term, according to a leading strategist.

The FTSE 100 has shed 40 points in early trading to move back towards the 6,400 mark, compounding losses suffered in recent days.

Markets across the continent were lower in morning trading as investors reacted to heavy selling in emerging markets.

Hargreaves Lansdown is in talks with a number of fund groups to secure exclusive deals to sell their passive products at discounted prices.

The FTSE has tumbled as much as 2% as US ten-year yields touch two-year highs in expectation of an imminent slowdown of the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing programme.