London shares started the session in the red as a dividend cut from BHP Billiton (LON:BHP) cast a cloud over the mining sector.
The FTSE 100 Index fell 25.3 points to 6012 after the global miner reduced its dividend by 74% to 16 cents as it posted a 54% drop in half-year profits to just under US$6bn in the six months to December 31.
BHP is the latest company in the sector to take an axe to shareholder payouts as falling commodity prices have put pressure on the industry's balance sheets.
Shares in BHP dropped 26.2p, or 3.3%, to 768.8p. Anglo American's stock backtracked 14.15p to 469.6p, Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) reversed 39p to 2012p and Glencore was off 2.7p to 129.7p.
The fall in London followed a downbeat close in Asia, where both the Shanghai Composite and Japan's Nikkei 225 ended the session in negative territory.
After Monday's fall triggered partly by heightened fears of a UK exit from the EU, markets regained their nerve ahead of an appearance by Bank of England governor at Parliament's Treasury Select Committee.
Wood Group (LON:WG.) shares spurted 40p to 623.5p as the oil services group managed to achieve annual underlying earnings in line with expectations, albeit 14.5% lower than a year ago.
Investors built stakes in housebuilder Persimmon (LON:PSN) by 89p to 2062p on news of a 34% rise in annual profits, a 12% increase in forward sales and an 8% lift in legal completions.
Elsewhere, shares in Regency Mines (LON:RGM) soared 0.2p, or 32%, to 0.82p as the group confirmed it had taken a 5% stake in the Horse Hill oil scheme near Gatwick Airport.
Image Scan Holdings (LON:IGE) was 0.38p brighter at 2.38p as the specialist in real-time X-ray imaging for the security and industrial inspection markets reported more than £1mln of new orders this year.
Communications infrastructure group Coms (LON:COMS) advanced 0.2p to 1.85p on news of a contract to design and install an in-building mobile phone cellular system serving nearly one million square feet of office space in the City of London.
MARKET PREVIEW
UK stocks are set to follow Asian stocks lower at the outset on a busy day for company results.
Spread betting quotes indicate the FTSE 100 will open just below the 6,000 level after closing yesterday at 6,038.
US markets had a good day yesterday on the back of a resurgent oil price, with the Dow Jones average up 1.4% at 16,621, the S&P 500 1.5% firmer at 1,946 and the Nasdaq Composite also up 1.5%, at 4,571.
Asian markets, however, are lower heading into the last hour of trading, with Japan's Nikkei 225 off 0.4% at 16,052 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.1% at 19,436.
Overnight, mining leviathan BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) surprised few by slashing its dividend after recording a loss of $5.67bn after writing down its US energy assets.
Later on today, Standard Chartered (LON:S|TAN) keeps the banking results season ticking over, while bookmaker Ladbrokes (LON:LAD) is another whose results are likely to be keenly scrutinised, to see how its patchy digital strategy is developing.