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European shares are expected to open slightly lower as continued fears that the euro zone debt crisis is no nearer a solution persist.
The FTSE is called lower by 19 points, the DAX by 10 points and the CAC 40 by 10 points.
Thursday's meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti saw agreement between the trio to respect the independence of the European Central Bank.
They also pledged to propose legislation that would enable modifications to European Union treaties to push for further integration economically and politically between euro zone countries.
In addition both Sarkozy and Merkel agreed to end their public dispute on the right role for the ECB in this crisis.
Despite all the positive noise from the European leaders it failed to allay investor fears and the euro fell to seven-week lows on Friday.
Thursday saw Portugal's credit rating reduced to junk status by the ratings agency Fitch .
Citing 'large fiscal imbalances and 'high indebtedness across all sectors' Fitch downgraded the country's rating from BBB- to BB+.
In addition, Moody's Friday downgraded Hungary's credit rating to Ba1, below investment grade on fears that the government would be unable to tackle low growth, fiscal uncertainty and high debt.
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