Legal & General slipped 0.25p at 76.85p after it reported worldwide new business was down in the first nine months of 2009.

Falling metals prices stang the miners, with Fresnillo the worst-hit, down 25p at 743.4p and Xstrata off 25.5p at 896p. BHP Billiton dropped 49.5p at 1,640.5p and Lonmin slumped 36p at 1,499p.

Oil producers suffered with the general market, despite crude remaining above $78 a barrel, with Shell off 5p at 1,765p, BP down 7.9p at 576.8p and BG Group 9.5p lower at 1,065p.

Primark and Silver Spoon sugar owner Associated British Foods, dropped 7p at 826p, despite reporting a 4% rise in full year adjusted pre-tax profit and saying it was confident of future progress.

Homeware retailer Dunelm provided a rare sign of improvment in the retailers, up 5.4p at 331.4p after reporting continued strong sales growth as it benefited from the demise of rivals such as Woolworths.

In economic news, the PMI Construction Survey will be published at 9:30am.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire