Footsie down as oil stocks suffer

The four-day winning streak of the FTSE 100 Index came to an end today following a weak performance by oil stocks and further losses on Wall Street.

Investors used a fall in the price of US light crude to under 53 US dollars a barrel as an opportunity to bank profits in oil giants BP and Shell, contributing to the Footsie easing 10.4 points to 4973.2 by the close.