The stocks in oil companies have taken a battering during the last couple of weeks, in spite of the oil price soaring to ever higher levels, pulling the BBC Global 30 lower.The most conspicuous is Exxon, now the world's biggest company by market capitalization having overtaken General Electric last month.
Exxon's shares have fallen 7.9% since the beginning of March.
CNOOC, the Chinese oil company, also fell 3.8% and BP slipped 1.5%.
In Exxon's case, the downward pressure came despite the US Senate approving on Wednesday the drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Much of the negative sentiment has come from comments made by chairman and chief executive Lee Raymond.
He told analysts: "We are in the mode where the fundamentals of supply and demand really don't drive the price. Oil is a commodity, and history tells us that commodity prices never stay high forever."
In addition, analysts are worried about Exxon's ability to extract returns from its growing cash pile of over $20bn.
Mixed retailers
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer was the second worst performer over the last fortnight, down 3.9%.
 Wal-Mart is facing stiff competition from Tesco |
Its sales growth over the last year has been 3.3%, that's two percentage points behind Target, its main competitor.
The weakness of the dollar has meant international earnings have been strong - up 18% last year - but its performance in the UK (through its Asda subsidiary) and Germany (through its Wertkauf subsidiary) has been disappointing.
Asda's market share in the UK just nudged higher from 16.7% to 16.9%, while Tesco, another Global 30 player, pushed its share from 27% to 29.2%.
Tesco shares were the third best performer on the Index, up 2.1%.
3G switch
The Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa fell 3.9% as investors fretted over the cost of price cuts in the market for its third generation mobile phone services in the UK and the profitability of its telecom operations in emerging markets through its HTIL subsidiary.
 Traders sold oil stock despite rising crude prices |
Other news for the group this fortnight has been positive: the group agreed to develop and run up to three berths at two terminals in ports on Egypt's Mediterranean coast through its Hutchison Ports Holdings.
At the other end of the scale, mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo outperformed the rest of the Global 30 index, adding 6.6% in the last two weeks.
Its share of the Japanese market is rising, largely at the expense of Vodafone, another Global 30 member, which is down 1.3%.
This week, total mobile phone shipments in Japan rose for the first time in a year.
This is being seen as a sign that consumers are now switching to newer third generation phones.
At the same time NTT DoCoMo also cut its call charges by 3-7.9%, ratcheting up the competition on Vodafone and its other rival KDDI.
ENEL, the Italian power company also gained, rising 3.32%, as it was reported in the French press that it may buy 25% of a European pressurised water reactor in a deal with Electricite de France (EdF).
ENEL is trying to negotiate a foothold in the French market in exchange for EdF increasing its Italian interests.
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