The FTSE 100 share index fell early on Friday. At 8:40am the index at fallen 38.1 points to 6,232.7 (down 0.6 per cent).

Banks had a poor start with Barclays down 2.3 per cent, HSBC falling 1.4 per cent, Lloyds TSB down 1.9 per cent and Royal Bank of Scotland down 1.4 per cent.

Rising oil prices hurt airlines, British Airways fell 1.8 per cent whilst easyJet was down 1.7 per cent.

Oil companies BP and Royal Dutch Shell however saw their share values rise thanks to the price rises.

British Energy dropped more than 2 per cent after news that German firm RWE would not be making a bid for the company.

HMV had a good start to the day, with shares up 6.0 per cent after saying it expected full year pre-tax profit to be at the top end of market expectations.

Aga Foodservice Group however dropped 4.4 per cent.

Ftse