The usual negatives were weighing on UK stocks during early trading on Friday; fears of Brexit and lower oil and commodities prices.

The FTSE 100 Index was down by 1.6 per cent to 6131.57 in late morning. This means the blue chip index has ended the week well into negative territory after lacklustre trading. Dealers reckon it will take the upcoming referendum on June 23, and a clear outcome, for any real direction in trading to emerge.

Banks and resources stocks were off. Barclays fell 5½p to 170½p. BP shares were off 4½p to 369½p despite establishing a joint venture with a Norwegian company, Det Norkse, to pool the companies’ exploration and production operations there into the largest force on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Elsewhere in natural resources stocks, Antofagasta, the Chilean silver miner, eased 4p to 419½p. Rio Tinto, meanwhile, fell 27½p to £19.40 ½.

Standard Life succumbed to a downgrade in its target price by UBS, from 380p to 347p. The shares lost 7½ p, to 323p.

Tesco has offloaded Giraffe, the restaurant chain in the UK, and its Turkish chain, as it retreats to its core business. Its shares were down 3¼p, to 154¾p.

Sky lost some early gains in celebration of this week’s win of the largest share of the TV rights to the German Bundesliga football matches. The shares were up sharply on Thursday on news of the win despite a near-doubling of the amount Sky has to pay out. By mid-morning they had lost 24½p to 931p on profit-taking.