The UK market is falling modestly in afternoon trading Wednesday, amid lingering eurozone debt worries and weak overseas leads.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone blue chippers is losing 0.15 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is rising 0.27 percent.
The FTSE 100 index opened at 5,858 and has been trading in the range of 5,810- 5,870. The index is currently slipping 0.11 percent.
Retailer Next is falling 2.7 percent. Kingfisher is down 0.5 percent.
Royal Dutch Shell and BP are moderately lower.
Vodafone is down 0.3 percent. Nomura cut its rating on the telecom company to "Neutral" from "Buy."
Among miners, Antofagasta and Kazakhmys are up over 1 percent. BHP Billiton is falling moderately.
In banking stocks, Barclays is up 1.2 percent. Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC Holdings are rising moderately.
Outside the main index, Cable & Wireless Communications is declining 9.3 percent. The company reported a fall in full year profit.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is losing 0.16 percent and the French CAC 40 is slipping 0.10 percent. Switzerland's SMI is losing 0.04 percent.
In economic news, The British economy expanded 0.5 percent in the first quarter, unrevised from the preliminary estimate, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. GDP contracted 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Germany's consumer sentiment is set to fall again in June after easing for two straight months as worsening debt crisis in Greece and high energy prices overshadowed falling unemployment and robust economic growth.
The overall consumer confidence indicator is forecasting a value of 5.5 points for June, down from 5.7 points in May, survey results from the market research group GfK showed. Economists were expecting a reading of 5.6 points.
Across Asia/Pacific, most major markets ended in the red. Australia's All Ordinaries lost 0.99 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.90 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 receded 0.57 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.07 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually finishing the day modestly lower. The Dow slipped 0.2 percent, the Nasdaq fell 0.5 percent and the S&P 500 edged down 0.1 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is sliding $0.27 to $99.32 per barrel, while June gold is adding $4.5 to $1527.8 a troy ounce.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.