FTSE down ahead of U.S. jobs data

And news out of the latest monthly European Central Bank Committee meeting will also be eyed, though no change is expected to monetary policy with euro zone interest rates already at a record low.

Miners dipped, shedding some of recent gains made on corporate activity speculation, as stocks were hit lower metal prices, with investors unsure over the speed of economic recovery.

Randgold Resources , Eurasian Natural Resources , Anglo American , Lonmin and BHP Billiton fell 1.1-2.5 percent.

Rio Tinto fell 1.8 percent after a $15.2 billion (9.3 billion pound) rights offer, the fifth-biggest on record, putting the world's top iron ore miner back into growth mode after a debt-funded purchase of Alcan had brought it to its knees.

The dip in equity prices was broad-based with defensive drugmakers and life insurers also among those well into negative territory.

AstraZeneca , GlaxoSmithKline and Shire fell 0.8 to 1.5 percent while Aviva lost 2.6 percent and Legal & General slipped 0.8 percent.

With little in the way of positive news, the world's biggest spirits group Diageo topped the risers chart, up 2.5 percent, as traders continued to view its decision, announced on Wednesday, to close two Scottish plants as a good move in the current downturn.

Standard Chartered rose 1.3 percent after the Asia-focussed bank announced John Peace as its permanent chairman, and UBS upgraded its rating to 'neutral' from 'sell', while hiking its target price to 1,140 pence from 1,000 pence and upping its estimates.

(Editing by Dan Lalor)