The FTSE 100 slipped 0.75% in the morning, dropping below 6,000.
Chipmaker ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) was the top performer with a 6.5% advance. ARM was driven by strong results and positive outlook for 2011 from peer Inter Corp (NYSE:INTC), which were released yesterday in the US.
Medical devices manufacturer Smith & Nephew (LON:SN) followed, rising 4%.
Power generation company International Power (LON:IPR) and interdealer broker ICAP (LON:IAP) added 2.2% and 1% respectively.
Mining majors Xstrata (LON:XTA) and Anglo American (LON:AAL) were at the bottom of the pile with losses of 3% and 2.3% respectively.
Satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat (LON:ISAT) and oil and gas producer Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) shed nearly 2%.
Elsewhere in Europe, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.3%, Spain’s IBEX 35 shed 0.35% and Germany’s DAX was down 0.4%.
Asian stocks were mixed today. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dipped 1.3% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.9%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2% and South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 0.9%.
Futures for the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes declined marginally in the US this morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index declined 0.2% yesterday after an update on US jobless claims from the Labor Department showed an unexpected gain of 35,000 in initial applications for unemployment benefits.
The technology heavy NASDAQ composite was down 0.15%.
Today’s macroeconomic data will include US industrial production, business inventories, retail sales and consumer price index.