Leading British shares lost ground at mid-session today.
This trend came with Standard Chartered leading banks lower ahead of its results on Wednesday and expectations of a weaker opening for US stocks weighing on sentiment.
Banks took 14 points off the benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was down 53.4 points or 1.04 per cent at 5,100.9 by 12.38 p.m. ahead of Wall Street's restart after the long President's Day holiday weekend.
Disappointment at banking sector results held the market back. Standard Chartered shed 3.4 per cent and Lloyds fell 1 per cent. Investors are wary ahead of Standard Chartered's annual results.
However, the long-anticipated strategy review from Invensys scotched recent talk that it was ripe for a rights issue, with debt worries additionally eased by its statement that it was confident of satisfying its bank covenants.
Insurance shares slipped after Dutch-Belgian financial services group Fortis warned of lower profits
The market was expected to drift ahead of the opening on Wall Street.