Further gains for financial stocks and an initial slide in the oil price helped European equity markets and the dollar advance on Wednesday, although Wall Street’s recent rally showed signs of running out of steam.

Crude prices came under heavy pressure following further evidence that demand for fuel in the US was falling. In New York, front-month West Texas Intermediate fell $3.98 to $124.44 a barrel, leaving it around $23 lower from the record high of July 11. Petrol stockpiles in the world’s biggest energy consumer rose by 2.9m barrels last week, far more than had been expected. The build-up overshadowed an unexpectedly big decline in crude inventories.