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European equity markets were reacting cautiously to movement in the rest of Europe, with an early indication of weak sentiment towards the FTSE 100 index. As London opened, the market was lower, reflecting investor's mixed feelings towards the European markets and caution regarding their early trade behavior.At the beginning of this session it was evident that the British pound was performing poorly against the US dollar as it continued to trade below the $1.34 range. Although this loss was not large, it contributed to the overall feeling of caution that dominated London trades today. Trading volumes in export driven sectors of the economy will typically react negatively to currency fluctuations, resulting in investors becoming less confident in the market.As noted above, the decline in the FTSE 100 index was not confined to the UK, as other European equity indices also started off the day lower due to the general softness in the regional equity markets. This also created caution towards the beginning of the trading day among many traders in London.At the company level, the early updates from a few different firms are mixed. Some were positive, with the firm's most recent operating metrics, while others released a neutral outlook for their corporate operations without resulting in material buying interest from the broader market. The combination of different firm-level signals has added to the lack of momentum during the opening, as market participants are assessing the macro perspective, along with individual firms, as part of a multi-faceted evaluation of the company's potential performance.According to market analysts, opening direction tends to reflect overnight activity and anticipated trends for the remainder of the trading session. Currency fluctuations, regional exchange-traded performance, and companies' announcements can all affect the opening's directional bias, and today's opening weakness aligns with the weaker trends already noted across portions of Europe.Market activity can change from the opening of the market until the end of the session. Market activity can change with the release of economic data (and sector rotation) and with the reaction of investors to foreign market activity. Currently, investors in the UK (FTSE 100) are driving the direction of the market towards a cautious stance rather than taking extreme positions until more definitive guidance from economic data and corporate announcements occurs in the near future.