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Investors opting to take profits caused the index to be 9.55 points lower at 09:06 GMT, according to Reuters, taking it to 5,305.79 points.
Banking stocks were among those to drop, with falls of up to 2.1 per cent being made by Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered and HSBC.
There were gains for a number of defensive stocks, with drinks producers Diageo and SABMiller climbing alongside Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco.
News that British Airways cabin crew are to go on a 12-day strike over Christmas caused shares in the airline to fall by 2.5 per cent, meaning it had recorded the largest fall of all blue chip firms in early trading.
Market strategist Joshua Raymond said investors were worried the industrial action "could hit the company earnings hard".
Posted by Clive Arneil
