It was an up and down day for the Footsie, and though it ended in the red, it had cut its arrears significantly by the close.
The FTSE 100 fell 24 points to 6,060, while the FTSE 250 edged up a couple of points to 16,489.
Banks were a drag on the top-share index, with Standard Chartered, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC comprising four of the 10 biggest fallers.
Going the other way were airlines easyJet and IAG, buoyed by the slide in the oil price and a strong set of figures from Ryanair (LON:RYA), which doubled quarterly profits and unveiled a €600mln share repurchase programme.
Among the small caps, Keras Resources (LON:KRS), the company formerly known as Ferrex, hardened 0.08p to 0.58p as it brought in £563,889 via a loan deal to get the Grants Patch Gold Tribute Project in Western Australia into production in the second quarter of 2016.
The loan note includes an 8% redemption premium and a 10% coupon is payable straight away.
There was also good news for Spaceandpeople (LON:SAL), which rose 13.9% after it revealed it had signed a new contract with British Land.
Mid-session
Disappointing Chinese data overnight has been compounded by mixed manufacturing data from the UK, ensuring London stocks remain in the doldrums.
The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to a 19-month high of 52.9 – a value above 50 indicates expansion – versus expectations of 51.6, but nonetheless traders were alarmed to see export orders continued to fall (although sterling's slump may soon sort that out) while companies continue to cut staffing levels.
Capital Economics noted: “New export orders fell below the 50 mark (which hypothetically separates expansion from contraction) to reach a seven-month low. This implies that weak external demand is still weighing heavily on the manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, both the input and output price balances fell back further on the month. Moreover, the employment balance dropped below 50 once again. This all suggests that the manufacturing sector should add very little to inflationary pressure or to employment growth in coming months.
Ahead of results tomorrow, BP (LON:BP.) was down 4%, though that is probably more to do with a lower oil price than any fear over skeletons in the wardrobe. Shell (LON:RDSA) joined it in the doghouse, down 3%.
Mining companies were also getting it in the neck, with Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta the hardest hit.
BT Group (LON:BT.A) is the best performing blue-chip, up 2.%, after its third quarter update topped expectations.
Airlines EasyJet (LON:EZJ) and IAG (LON:IAG), both big users of oil, are among those happy to see the price of the black stuff head back towards thirty bucks a barrel.
On the subject of oil, 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, roughly doubling to 37.25p.
IS Solutions (LON:ISL) shot up 26.6% as it boasted of several contract wins that will propel profits significantly above market expectations. The data solutions firm said revenue would also be ahead of expectations for the year to 31 March 2016.
London open
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 Managers 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.