2016 has been characterised by volatile market movements so this morning's gentle fall, despite some indifferent Chinese economic data, will be welcomed by shell-shocked investors.
The FTSE 100 initially opened higher but slipped back to 6,061, down 23 points.
Chinese Purchasing Manager Index updates for January were soft, while sentiment has also been hit by a slide in the oil price. Brent crude for March delivery was off 1.6% at US$35.42 while the US benchmark, WTI, was down 1.9% at US$32.98 a barrel.
BT (LON:BT.A) was doing its bit to bolster the Footsie, as it reported a 3% rise in revenue in its fiscal third quarter to £4.59bn while adjusted profit before tax rose 14% to £928mln. Quarterly revenue growth was the best the telecoms giant had seen for more than seven years.
Rolls-Royce (LON:RR) was in reverse gear, retreating 0.9% despite bagging a Norwegian order worth US$2.7bn.
Smith & Nephew (LON:SN.) revealed its chief executive officer, Olivier Bohuon, has been diagnosed with a “highly treatable” form of cancer. He will be actively involved in running the company through much of the treatment period, which will include chemotherapy.
The shares fell 3p to 1,159p.
Trading in Premier Oil (LON:PMO) shares resumed after the company's announcement last month of the acquisition of E.ON's North Sea assets, and investors were keen to chase the share price higher.
The shares were the best performers on the London market, more than doubling to 42.75p from 19p.
In the mining sector, North River Resources (LON:NRRP) received a boost from the Ministry of Mines and Energy in Namibia, which has issued a “notice of preparedness” to grant the mining licence at North River's lead-zinc project in Namib.
The mining licence is a critical step towards taking the Namib project toward to an investment decision and into construction, the company said.
The shares were up nearly 27%.
Metal Tiger (LON:MTR) roared 11.8% higher to 0.95p on the back of a resource update for MOD Resources, the senior partner in a joint venture in which Metal Tiger owns 30%.
AFC Energy (LON:AFC) powered up 2.75p to 29p after the fuel cell developer celebrated the generation of more than 200 kilowatts of electricity from its KORE fuel cell power plant in Stade, Germany.
There was less good news for Lakehouse (LON:LAKE), the building maintenance services provider, which issued a profit warning after it revealed a number of its customers are deferring spending owning to budget constraints.