Europe midday: Oil losses push markets down

European stocks were on track for another day of losses in morning trading on Thursday, with a downturn in oil prices dragging on energy shares.

At midday BST, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.88% at 341.51, while in London the FTSE 100 lost 0.78% at 6,252.62, Germany’s DAX slipped 1.22% to 10,092.45, and France’s CAC 40 was off 0.84% at 4,411.31.

Among the continent’s oil producers, Neste Corporation was down 2.33%, Total slipped 1.63% and Respsol was off 1.76%.

Oilfield data services company TGS-NOPEC Geophysical was down 4.01%.

Crude prices turned lower as Asian markets went to bed, with Brent crude last down 0.94% to $52.02 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate losing 0.81% to $50.82.

Despite the morning losses, oil prices were still on track for weekly gains of more than 5%.

“Oil has rolled over a bit … and has been really driving the gains,” said CMC Markets market analyst Jasper Lawler.

“We’ve seen the oil and gas sector the best performer over the few days, and with this pullback today, we’re left without other catalysts.”

ECB president Mario Draghi gave a speech during the morning at the Brussels economic forum, warning about the prospect of delaying structural reforms.

“So it is in fact in everybody's interest to act without undue delay,” he said.

“For the ECB, this means that we do not let inflation undershoot our objective for longer than is avoidable given the nature of the shocks we face.”

On the corporate front, Glencore was under pressure after it agreed to sell a near 10% stake in its agricultural arm to British Columbia Investment Corporation.

Plastics supplier Essentra was at the bottom of the Stoxx 600 pile, after it issued a warning on full-year operating profit.

German power utility E.ON was also down sharply after shareholders gave the thumbs up to a plan to spin off its conventional energy business.

Major UK house builders, including Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group, were in the red after a survey from RICS suggested house prices are set to fall for the first time since 2012.

Also among the losers was Vodafone, which has agreed to combine its New Zealand business with local television operator Sky, sending its share price lower.