Britain's top share index was flat early on Monday as weakness in miners offset gains in the banking sector, which was led higher by Lloyds Banking Group after Victor Blank stepped down as chairman.
By 0758 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.13 points at 4,347.98 points in choppy trade having been down as low as 4,307.72 points earlier.
"In the absence of any corporate or economic news there aren't any catalysts to give the market direction today. The direction of the market from here is just how weak corporate earnings are going to be going forward," said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"Even though the market has lowered its expectations for numbers we are still continuing to see the difficult and challenging outlook being echoed by each CEO which gives results. It is a question of continuing to look at corporate earnings going forward whilst looking for any signs of recovery in the wider economic back drop," said Hunter.
Bank stocks added the most points to the index with Lloyds Banking Group up 1.6 percent. Victor Blank is to step down as chairman of the group in the next year, following intense criticism of his part-nationalised British bank's purchase of troubled rival HBOS.
HSBC and Standard Chartered were up 1.4 percent and 2.3 percent respectively.
Thomas Cook Group gained 7 percent. Debt-burdened German retailer Arcandor, which has a controlling stake in Thomas Cook, plans to ask the German government for 650 million euros ($885 million) in loan guarantees and for a loan from the German state development bank.
GlaxoSmithKline was 1 percent higher after it took another step to bolster its early-stage pipeline of cancer drugs by signing a deal worth up to $370 million with privately held British biotech group Oxford BioTherapeutics.
MINERS SLIP AS PRICES RETREAT
Mining stocks took the most points off the index as copper fell 1.2 percent with Rio Tinto down 3.9 percent. An executive at the global miner said roughly half of China's iron ore mines may have shut down since prices dropped, opening the door for other low-cost producers to supply China with the key mineral for making building materials.
Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation and Xstrata slipped 2-3.3 percent.
However, not all miners were on the downside and Vedanta Resources gained 6.8 percent, as the Indian company was bolstered by the decisive victory for the ruling coalition in that country, calming fears of political instability.
Energy stocks were in the doldrums as oil hovered above $56 a barrel.
Royal Dutch Shell was down 1.6 percent. The Times said shareholders at the oil giant have increased the pressure on it to reconsider its pay policy as a second institutional investor promised to vote against the directors' remuneration report at Tuesday's annual meeting.
BG Group, Tullow Oil and BP fell 0.7-1.2 percent.
Cairn Energy, which has significant exposure in India, bucked the trend and was up 3.1 percent.
Meanwhile, asking prices for homes in England and Wales rose 2.4 percent in May — the biggest increase for the month since 2003, property website Rightmove said, but added that pricing was probably not realistic and volumes were low.
The median British pay deal held at a 2-1/2 year low in the three months to March as many companies froze pay to counter the effects of the economic downturn, pay consultants IDS said.
