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By 09:24 BST, the index was off 0.9 per cent on 5,551.01 points, with banks among the biggest fallers, Reuters reports.
There were dips of between 0.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent for Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered, while Lloyds Banking Group lost 5.5 per cent and Royal Bank of Scotland retreated 5.8 per cent.
Mining firms were broadly lower, with Lonmin, Rio Tinto and Xstrata among the companies to see their stock edge down, however firms operating in the energy sector rose.
Royal Dutch Shell added 1.3 per cent, while there were increases of 0.7 per cent and one per cent for BG Group and BP respectively.
Markets around Europe have also performed poorly. The FTSEurofirst 300 was 1.6 per cent lower at 09:13 BST, The news agency reports.
Posted by Clive Arneil
