LONDON: European energy stocks fell sharply after the Norwegian government said its trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, will drop oil and gas companies from its benchmark index and its investment universe.At 1053 GMT the European oil and gas index was down 1.6 percent at sessions lows, while BP and Shell were down 1.9 precent and 2.2 percent respectively.
Stocks had been under pressure earlier in the session from weak Chinese trade data and falling crude prices.