The Footsie 100 Index is down 45.2 at 4045.3 in early trading this morning.
A weak finish on Wall Street depressed trading in London, pulling blue-chip shares lower.
With few major corporate announcements to inspire trading in the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq succumbed to profit-taking.
Insurers were some of the biggest fallers after strong gains yesterday.
Prudential, which saw its majority-owned internet bank Egg open in France today, fell 14p to 454p; Royal & Sun Alliance shed 3.75p at 105.75p; and Aviva lost 11.5p at 494p.
Royal Bank of Scotland was off 30p at 1498p and Alliance & Leicester, 20p lighter at 860p.
The hi-tech sector was also weaker, with market heavyweight Vodafone off 0.75p at 106.25p and software firm Sage down 5.75p at 140p.
PA
