Pick of the early market news

Stock markets were rocked yesterday by political uncertainty as Dutch PM Mark Rutte quit and Francois Hollande's edged Nicolas Sarkozy in the first round of the French election. The FTSE 100 plunged -1.85% - the biggest faller was Old Mutual with a -14.39% drop - while the German Dax tanked -3.36%.

Overnight in Asia, the Nikkei Stock Average lost 1.1% while the Hang Seng slipped 0.4%.