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At 09:34 BST, the market was down 2.14 points to 4,815.41, Reuters reports, with the drops among oil firms coming due to the price of the commodity decreasing from last month's highs to around $69 (£42) per barrel.
BP, Cairn Energy, Royal Dutch Shell and Tullow Oil were all lower in the morning session and there were also falls for a number of drug manufacturers, including AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.
Mining businesses - including Vedanta, Lonmin, Kazakhmys and Fresnillo - climbed and market strategist Joshua Raymond explained that many stocks were purchased by "bargain hunters" after the sector suffered from profit taking earlier in the week.
He added that the wait for the release of interest rate data from the European Central Bank also caused trading to be muted.
