6:30 AM Falling oil stocks push European markets lower despite tech gains.
European markets were lower by mid morning on Monday. The FTSE 100 in London shed 0.1% to 6,150.8, while Frankfurt Xetra Dax remained marginally higher at 6,207.22 and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.1% to 5,372.91.

Decliners

Oil stocks were lower on Monday. Finnish refiner Neste Oil lost 3.5%, Norsk Hydro was off 2.7% and Repsol of Spain was down 1.3%.

Advancers

Airlines advanced on falling oil prices. German carrier Lufthansa gained 2%, British Airways added 2%. Akzo Nobel, the chemicals and drugs group, gained 1.1% despite a downgrade by ING.

Technology shares also gained. SAP in Germany was one of the early advancers, up 1%. Banks were led higher by Standard Chartered, after reports it was in the running to take over DBS Group of Singapore. Its shares gained 2.6%. French insurer CNP Assurances added 1.8% after its rating was raised by JPMorgan from neutral to overweight.

The steel sector remained in demand after ThyssenKrupp denied weekend press reports that it was considering a counterbid for Corus, the Anglo-Dutch group which has agreed to be purchased by Tata Steel. Shares in Corus gained 0.1% in Amsterdam, while Thyssen climbed 0.2%.

Oil and gold

Oil trade was range-bound on Monday amid market doubts about a decision by OPEC to cut production. December contracts for light sweet crude oil were up 2 cents at $59.35 a barrel on the NYME. Brent crude futures on London ICE exchange shed 1 cent to $59.67.

Gold traded in London at $588.50 per troy ounce, down from $594.30 late Friday.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was higher against other major currencies in European trading Monday morning. The euro was quoted at $1.2561, down from $1.2620 late Friday in New York. The British pound traded at $1.8744, down from $1.8843. The dollar bought 119.19 Japanese yen, up from 118.65.

5:00 AM Gold prices declined due to falling demand and dropping oil prices.
December gold dropped $6.10 to end at $596.40 a troy ounce at the NYME. December silver fell 19.5 cents to close at $11.965 an ounce. October platinum ended the session $12.70 lower at $1,082.10 an ounce while December palladium shed $6.90 to finish at $330.50 an ounce. The most-active December copper contract fell 4.75 cents to settle at $3.4620 per pound.

November light, sweet crude oil settled down $1.68 at $56.82 a barrel after earlier falling to $56.55, the least for the front-month contract since Nov. 30. November heating oil lost 4.01 cents to end at $1.6800 a gallon. November unleaded gasoline settled down 2.22 cents at $1.4672 a gallon. November natural gas settled up 10.9 cents at $7.241 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures closed 20 points higher at $1.0205 a pound. March futures on raw sugar in foreign ports closed up 0.12 cent at 11.71 cents a pound.