FTSE 100 watch: Drop in oil pressures Footsie

The UK benchmark index has been struggling to make headway in today’s session, with lower oil and political uncertainty weighing on sentiment. Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL) meanwhile is underperforming the broader market after updating investors on its interim performance.

As of 12:26 GMT, the Footsie had lost 2.93 points to stand 0.04 percent lower at 7,183.29. Sentiment has been subdued today amid concerns over Donald Trump’s presidency in the US, as well as uncertainty closer to home, with France’s presidential elections looming in April. Energy shares are further weighing on the blue-chip index, pressured by a drop in crude prices. Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSA) is currently one of the biggest blue-chip fallers in percentage terms, having shed 1.65 percent to 2,118.50p.

“Energy shares have been weighed on by a surprisingly large US API oil inventory build stoking fears that rising US shale production will outweigh OPEC cuts deigned to rebalance the global oil market,” Accendo Markets analyst Henry Croft said, as quoted by Reuters.
In individual movers, Hargreaves Lansdown’s share price has fallen 2.38 percent to 1,353.00p, after the company reported that its net new business inflows had slowed down to £2.34 billion in the six months ended December 31, from £2.77 billion in the prior-year period. The Financial Times quoted Justin Bates, analyst at investment bank Liberum, as saying that he expected the broker to face “structural headwinds” in the form of “meaningful competition” in the medium to longer term.

RSA Insurance (LON:RSA) meanwhile has spiked 1.83 percent to 597.25p, after announcing that it had inked a deal to offload £834 million of insurance liabilities.
**The FTSE 100 index was 0.05 percent lower at 7,182.83 points as of 12:44 GMT on Wednesday, 08 February 2017.**