Financial markets have suffered a small bout of volatility as participants positon themselves ahead of the weekend and the re-opening of US equity markets on Monday.

In the absence of trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq hi-tech index until Monday, non-US markets drifted lower as investors lightened positions ahead of the weekend. By 13.00 GMT the FTSE 100 index of leading companies had fallen 109 points to 4,834, having breached 4,900 on Thursday. The CAC 40 dropped 138 points to 3,975, from above 4,000 on the previous day, and the Dax Index fell 208 points to 4,208.