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According to Reuters, the FTSE 100 was 28.59 points lower at 5,284.41 at 12:16 GMT, with declines of as much as 4.1 per cent recorded by Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group.
Performance by mining firms was mixed after prices of commodities fell, with BHP Billiton, Lonmin, Xstrata and Anglo American retreating by between 0.8 per cent and 1.4 per cent.
However Nomura published a research note raising target prices for several companies in the sector and this prompted Rio Tinto, Kazakhmys and Eurasian Natural Resources to record climbs of up to 1.3 per cent.
The decline is in contrast to the gain that was seen in the morning session of stock market trading yesterday, when the index was boosted by strong banks and insurance businesses.
Posted by Greg Secker
