Britain's blue chips headed south Wednesday as fears about a Bank of England rate rise hit sentiment.
It came after surprisingly good jobs numbers, which showed the unemployment rate in Britain in the three months to the end of November fell to 7.1% from 7.4% in the preceding three months -the largest fall since 1997 - leaving it close to the 7% threshold at which the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street has indicated it would consider raising interest rates.
Currently they are still at the rock bottom 0.5% level and any rise prompts fears concerning mortgage holders and the associated increase in repayments. Savers, of course, have a different point of view.
Michael Hewson, at CMC Markets, said: "Today’s numbers certainly increase the pressure on the Bank of England at next month’s rate meeting with respect to their forward guidance.
"Be that as it may we aren’t at the Bank of England’s 7% rate threshold yet and it could be some time before we do hit it or even drop below."
Footsie closed down 8, or 0.12% to 6,826 with Sage Group (LON:SGE) the biggest gainer, up 3.34%.
Guy Berruyer, chief executive of the accountancy software firm said its first quarter of the current year had seen good growth maintained across all regions.
“Through continued focus on our strategic cornerstones, we remain on course to deliver on our 6% organic revenue growth target in 2015, and anticipate making further progress during the year ahead."
In contrast, William Hill (LON:WMH) was the biggest laggard - down 3.88%.
FTSE AIM All share gained 0.47 to 882.06, while FTSE AIM 100 added 3.12 to 4026.51.
In small cap world, W Resources’(LON:WRES) was supported by news the concentrate from the new tailings project at la Parilla in Spain will have a much higher tungsten and tin content than originally forecast.
First production of a tungsten/tin concentrate is expected next month and discussions are underway over sales contracts. All of the planned monthly production of 20-25 tonnes month will be sold to 1-2 customers, it said.
Shares went 11.2% higher at 0.94p.
Impressive though that was, it pales in comparison to New World Oil & Gas’s (LON:NEW) 36% surge after it revealed it had received the first instalment of the delayed cash injection from cornerstone investor Niel Petroleum.
Niel agreed in September of last year to subscribe for 2.18bn New World shares at 0.735p each in a move that will see it take a 75.66% stake in the AIM-listed explorer, but there was a delay in the transfer of funds.
New World has now received US$4.8mln from Niel and has put the funds in escrow; the remaining US$20.2mln due from Niel is expected to arrive by the end of February.
There were also gains for North Sea oil firm Trapoil (LON:TRAP), up 4.11%, after it said it is looking at more opportunities to deliver value for shareholders, pointing to the potential for another unconventional oil play in the portfolio.
Last month, the company received more than 4mln IGas Energy (LON:IGAS) shares from Caithness Oil in exchange for Knockinnon, Lybster and other assets.
In the same sector, Leni Gas & Oil (LON:LGO) also recorded gains, rising 5.58%, after revealing it has received the environmental go-ahead for a 30 well drill programme on the Goudron field in Trinidad.
Drilling operations are now expected to start immediately, the company said.
Rurelec (LON:RUR) gained 7.69% in afternoon trade as it confirmed a decision on compensation concerning its Bolivian assets will be released before the end of the month (January).
"...the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague has confirmed that the Bolivian compensation award decision will be released before the end of January," the brief statement from the power firm read.
Beowulf Mining (LON:BEM) gained over 11% as the latest drill results from Kallak North and South projects in Sweden have showed more decent indications of iron.
At Kallak South, the final ten holes of a 4,100m campaign included one hole with a grade of 31.4% iron over an intercept width of 17.4 metres (m).
Several sections also showed average grades between 25 to 30% with a number 35% or better.
Grades at the four latest holes at Kallak North, meanwhile, included one intercept registering 41.4% iron over a width of 90.20m, with a 7m section in the same hole registering 46.9%.
Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) enjoyed gains again - rising 8.77% on Wednesday after rising yesterday after inking a multi-year take-or-pay offtake agreement for production from its York potash project with a major US-based Fortune 500 agri-business.
It means total polyhalite sales commitments at the UK fertiliser project now stand at 4.8 million tonnes a year.