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At 12:21 GMT, the index was down 0.2 per cent at 5,519.49 points, after the Bank of England announced that it has held the base rate at 0.5 per cent for another month, Reuters reports.
Vodafone was one of the biggest fallers on the index, declining 2.2 per cent after the head of US mobile phone network operator Verizon Communications Ivan Seidenberg said that the European firm's profits dropped by more than expected in 2009.
There were also falls in the mining sector, with BHP Billiton, Antofagasta and Xstrata all declining, however defensive stocks helped to limit the FTSE's drop.
British American Tobacco, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca were all higher in the morning session.
"What we have seen is investors looking to take some profits off the table having seen commodities prices fall off," observed Nicola Poskitt of City Index.
She added that the FTSE had outperformed weaker European stocks during morning trading.
Posted by Chris Weaver
