Before the bell: High oil prices impacting global markets

Global markets are mixed Monday morning as high oil prices and remarks by Moody's Investors Service that a Greek default "remains high" are muting investor enthusiasm.

Though recent U.S. economic news has been positive, the surging price of oil is raising fears that it will hurt the recovering American economy.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index was recently 1 per cent lower at 262.1. London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.8 per cent to 5888, Paris's CAC 40 was 1.3 per cent lower at 3421.9 and Frankfurt's DAX dipped 1.3 per cent to 6774.23. The euro currency is presently fetching US$1.3422.

In Asia, similar concerns over the price of oil weighed on investor sentiment. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.9 per cent to 21217.86, South Korea's Kospi lost 1.4 per cent to 1991.16, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.9 per cent to 4267.4 and Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average gave up 0.1 per cent to 9633.93. China's Shanghai Composite Index however rose 0.3 per cent to 2447.06.

On Wall Street, U.S. futures are pointing to a lower opening. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 51 points to 12,910. S&P 500 Index futures fell 6.5 points to 1,356.80, while Nasdaq 100 futures lost 12.25 points to 2,589.25. Today, investors will be eyeing U.S. data on pending home sales and the German parliament's vote on Greece's latest bailout package.

Here at home, the S&P/TSX Composite Index edged 5.52 points lower to 12,725.77 last Friday while the TSX Venture Exchange was off 4.62 points at 1,689.52. The Canadian dollar is trading at 100.03¢ US.