Market overview: Santa Rally officially over as FTSE 100 ends winning streak

1630: Close The FTSE 100 finished 1.3% lower at 6,547, snapping an eight-day winning streak as declines in oil and gas stocks and utilities dragged the index lower. "If things carry on as they are it doesn’t look as if the FTSE 100 will have a particularly happy New Year period. [...] As oil and mining stocks remain weak, it seems that this baleful situation is not likely to change," said analyst Chris Beauchamp from IG. Meanwhile, stocks across Europe were also sold off with the Stoxx Europe 600 ending the day 0.9% lower at 341.13, extending its monthly fall for December to 1.8%. The benchmark index is set for its first December decline since 2008.

1549: US stocks are now trading firmly in the red after a subdued start following the consumer-confidence figures. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq are all down around 0.3%. Following the data, analyst Connor Campbell from Spreadex said: "The US Fed is left in a tricky position as it tries to estimate the effects of cheap oil on the consumer, and whether this can allow for a raise in interest rates that won’t cripple the US public."

1500: US consumer confidence increased modestly in December but by less than economists had predicted. The monthly US consumer confidence survey from The Conference Board gave a reading of 92.6 for the last month of the year, up from 91 in November, but well short of the consensus forecast reading of 93.9.

1400: Annual house-price inflation in the States slowed down to its slowest pace in two years in October, according to data from S&P/Case-Shiller. Year-on-year price growth in 20 large US cities eased to 4.5% from 4.8% in September. However, the reading still came in better than economists' forecasts for a rise of 4.4%.

1145: The FTSE 100 is down around 0.9% at 6,576.11 after hitting a three-week high the previous session. Analyst David Madden from IG said: “The possibility of the anti-austerity Syriza party gaining control in Greece is exercising traders' minds this morning, leading to a firmly cautious mentality developing in UK and European indices.” Madden acknowledged that the “fear factor” was being “exacerbated by thin trading volumes”.

0930: Economists at Barclays Research have revised their forecast for Eurozone inflation in December lower, to -0.1% year-on-year, from 0% beforehand. That comes after the CPI for Spain was reported to have fallen at a 1.1% year-on-year pace in December, well below the 0.7% drop which economists had been expecting.

0830: UK stocks started the session lower, weighed down by losses in the oil patch. That came on the heels of an overnight drop in crude futures. Prompt month Brent crude contracts were 1.2% lower at $57.8 per barrel on the ICE. On the flip side, easyJet and IAG were moving up the leaderboard as a result of the slide in crude futures. Shares in retailer Next are outperforming after the firm unveiled a 2.9% rise in Next-brand sales for the ten weeks to the end of 24 December. That was considerably better than the 1.1% gain which analysts had penciled in. Home prices in the UK increased at a 7.2% year-on-year pace in December, less than the 7.6% rise which economists had expected. FTSE 100 down 46 to 6,587.40.