TSX turns lower on financials, oil worries (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto's main stock index turned lower on Tuesday afternoon, weighed down by falling financial shares and by economic worries sparked by high oil prices.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index fell 2.03 points to 14,134.47, following drops on U.S. stock markets. Heavyweight financials were down 0.6 percent, leading seven of the index's 10 main sectors lower.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday the recent surge in oil prices was unlikely to derail the U.S. economy, but his comments did little to reassure investors worried that the turmoil in the Middle East could affect Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter.

(Reporting by Ka Yan Ng; editing by Peter Galloway)

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FTSE closes lower on Libya unrest (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – London's leading share index closed lower again on Tuesday, with sentiment shaken by continuing violent unrest in Libya.
The FTSE 100 index ended down 0.30 percent at 5,996.76 points.
Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) was the most traded stock of the day, seeing 124 million shares change hands, followed by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which saw 95.1 million shares switch owners.
UK defence company BAE Systems led the day's fallers, shedding 4.3 percent -- or 14.7 pence -- to close at 326.8, followed by electricity group International Power, which fell 2.98 percent -- or 10.2 pence -- to end at 331.7.
RBS made the biggest gains of the day, seeing shares climb 2.32 percent -- or 1.08 pence -- to end at 47.22, followed by asset management company Schroders, which added 1.84 percent -- or 25 pence -- to finish at 1,384.
Meanwhile, the pound was down for the second straight day against both the dollar and the euro.
At 1709 GMT, sterling was trading at 1.6102 dollars, down from 1.6225 at the same time on Monday, while it fell to 1.1807 euros from 1.1862 over the same period.
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FTSE lower in opening trade (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – London's leading share index dipped fractionally in opening trade on Monday as investors showed little reaction to the weekend's G20 talks in Paris.

The FTSE 100 kicked the week off 0.18 percent lower at 6,071.99 points.

The Group of 20 developed and developing countries agreed which economic indicators to use to tackle the economic imbalances at the heart of the global crisis.

"The weekend's G20 meeting was something of a damp squib," said National Australia Bank strategist John Kyriakopoulos.

"G20 finance ministers hashed out an agreement on how to measure global imbalances, but didn't go far as to set numerical targets for such."

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