London’s blue chip stocks felt the strain after more heavy falls on Wall Street overnight.
FTSE 100 fell 85 points to 6,905, with tech stocks weak in the wake of the US decline.
Tech-dominated Nasdaq led Wall Street lower overnight and in London computer chip company ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) fell by than 5% to 1,069p.
The biggest faller was the London Stock Exchange (LON:LSE), down more than 9% to 2,289p.
Borse Dubai, controlled by the emirate’s government, is to sell its 17.4% stake in the exchange after eight years.
Mining stocks held firm, however, with gold leading the way.
Precious metal mining companies Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) were up 2.5% to 729p and 1.8% to 4,973p respectively.
Elsewhere, Royal Bank of Scotland’s (LON:RBS) shed 1% to 348p despite selling a larger than expected chunk of US arm Citizens for US$3.7bn.
RBS rival Lloyds’ (LON:LLOY) share price dipped 1.2% to 79p after the government sold 711mln more shares, worth about £569mln at the current market price.
The government is left with 22% in Lloyds but has indicated it will see the rest as soon as possible.
Away from banks, Superdry owner Supergroup (LON:SGP) rose as new chief executive Euan Sutherland’s recovery plans got a warm response.
It will start paying dividends in 2016 and has signed up Idris Elba. Shares jumped 7.5% to 1,004p.
Budget airline easyJet (LON:EZJ) shares slid despite raising its interim guidance. Shares were down more than 4% to 1,814p after a very strong run recently.
In broker news, online betting exchange Betfair (LON:BET) saw its target price raised by Goldman Sachs to 2,230p from 1,789p.
Shares fell despite the vote of confidence, down nearly 1.2% to 2,206p.
HSBC is losing enthusiasm for integrated oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB), downgrading the stock to ‘reduce’ from ‘neutral’. Shares fell 4.5p to 2,196p.
African oil and gas company Ophir Energy is benefitting from a recovery in the oil price.
That and an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ sent its share price up 3.8% to 144p.
UK pension provider Prudential (LON:PRU) and Legal & General (LON:LGEN) both shed 3.7% to 1,676p and 2.8% to 282p respectively after changes to the way annuities are sold.
Financial watchdog FCA wants firms to rank their products against fellow providers.
In small caps, oil and gas exploration company Oilex (LON:OEX) expects its first gas production in May. Shares jumped more 16% to 2.7p.
Roman Abramovich-backed fuel cell experts AFC Energy rose more than 16% after it started construction work on a new alkaline fuel cell powered electricity plant in Germany. Shares were up 3.7p to 25p.
E-commerce specialist cloudBuy (LON:CBUY) has won a £600,000 per year contract in the United Arab Emirates. Shares rose 2% to 20p.
Shares in oil and gas engineers Plexus Holdings (LON:POS) jumped more than 20% to 245p after it signed a contract with Shenzhen-listed oil giant Jereh allowing it to sell its wellhead kit throughout Asia.
Plant growth company Plant Impact (LON:PIM) pushed into profit as turnover more than doubled in the six months to the end of January 2015. Shares in the company were up 3% to 52p.