Citing national security risks posed by Chinese technology firms, US President Donald Trump’s administration has sharply expanded actions to restrict Chinese companies.

This has included putting telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd on its trade blacklist and ordering TikTok owner ByteDance to divest the short-form video app.

“At a time of rising discomfort with US-China technology integration numerous other companies - both Chinese firms operating in the US. and US firms with a presence in China may be forced to divest,” a research report said.

The report also said investment by US firms in China in the first half tumbled 31 percent to $4.1 billion, while investment by Chinese companies in the United States rose 38 percent to $4.7 billion

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5.35pm update: Lenders drag FTSE down

The UK's biggest high street lenders pulled markets lower on Tuesday.

It came after they were hit by talks of possible negative interest rates.

Natwest, Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds were all in the red as the day ended, dropping between 1.2 percent and 3 percent.

5.00pm update: FTSE closes down

The FTSE-100 index at the close was down 28.56 at 6049.92.

The FTSE Mid-250 index closed down 57.54 at 17737.72.

4.05pm update: Ireland angers airlines by tightens COVID-19 rules

The Irish government on Thursday tightened its COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The country has introduced quarantines on travellers from major holiday markets Italy and Greece.

The decision has angered the country's dominant airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus.

2.45pm update: FTSE down

The FTSE-100 index at 2:45pm was down 26.26 at 6052.22.

12.30pm update: Bank of England freezes interest rates.

The Bank of England has kept interest rates at 0.1% as the economy climbs out of the record recession caused by the Covid-19 lockdown, but it warned over an "unusually uncertain" outlook amid the pandemic.

All nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to leave rates unchanged and keep its quantitative easing programme to boost the economy at £745 billion.

The Bank said recent economic data had been stronger than it expected in August, but it warned rising coronavirus cases in the UK and worldwide could hamper the economic bounce-back.

11.00am update: FTSE's sluggish start continues

FTSE continues to find today hard work, currently sitting at 6,020.

This marks a small increase from today's low point of 6,006 but it still some way off yesterday's 6,078 close.

9.45am update: EU markets struggle on open

Like FTSE, European markets are also struggling this morning.

Euronext 100, CAC 40, DAX and the Swiss Market Index are all down.

Euronext is down 0.83%, CAC is down 0.75%, DAX is down 0.72% and Swiss Market is down 0.62%.

8.05am update: FTSE plummets on open

The FTSE 100 has dropped sharply on open, wiping out this week's gains.

The index closed at 6,078 yesterday but fell to 6,006 within minutes of opening this morning.

This marks a 62 point loss in just five minutes.