London’s blue chips are set to open sharply lower after US stocks tumbled overnight after a Malaysian airliner was destroyed over Ukraine and Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza.
Financial spread bet firms expect FTSE 100 to open more than 30 points lower to follow yesterday’s 47 point fall to 6,738.
The Malaysian Airways plane was reportedly shot down over the east of the Ukraine last night killing all 298 people on board.
The Kiev government has blamed Russian separatists for the attack on the Malaysian plane, with reports this morning suggesting it was carried out with a Russian made anti-aircraft system.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said the Kiev government was to blame.
The US had already ratcheted up its sanctions on Russia yesterday after claim s it was supplying military hardware to the separatists, but Wall Street fell sharply on the possibility of the US becoming even more directly involved if it is found that Russia was involved in any way.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 161 points to 16,977, with larger falls registered by Nasdaq and the S&P 500.
Asian markets fell with Wall Street with Tokyo over 1% lower and a fall in Hong Kong.
This is little company news today, with Irish conglomerate DCC and currency manager Record set to update the market.