The FTSE 100 dropped 0.2% in early trade, dragged down by yesterday’s top riser ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) and mining majors.
Engineering company GKN (LON:GKN) led the blue chips with a 2.2% gain.
International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:IAG) followed, climbing 1.8%.
BG Group (LON:BG) advanced 1.5% after reporting that revenues in 2010 climbed 11% to US$17.36 billion, while earnings surged 18% to US$4.01 billion.
Chipmaker ARM Holdings (LON:ARM), which has been on the rise on the back of its strong full year results and positive broker comments, declined 2.8% on profit taking.
Mining companies were in decline after base metal prices slipped.
Anglo American (LON:AAL) was down 2.5%, while Eurasian Natural Resources (LON:ENRC) and Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) shed about 2%.
Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) eased 1.5%.
Elsewhere in Europe, France’s CAC 40 tacked on 0.1%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 and Germany’s DAX added 0.2%.
Futures for the main US stock indexes climbed in the morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 indexes are expected to open with gains of about 0.15%.
Investors are focused on today’s earnings reports with little macroeconomic data to digest.
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Sara Lee (NYSE:SLE) and McAfee (NYSE:MFE) are due to release their results today.
Swiss bank UBS (NYSE:UBS) said yesterday that its Q4 net profit climbed 7.1% to US$1.35 billion.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.4% and South Korea’s KOSPI lost 0.6%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.45%.