Britain's top share index fell on Thursday, ahead of more heavyweight U.S. bank results and after a 56-week closing high in the previous session.
At 0807 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 19.10 points, or 0.4 percent, at 5,237.00, led lower by energy stocks and miners.
The index rose 2 percent on Wednesday lifted by upbeat quarterly earnings from U.S. investment bank JPMorgan Chase which gave a further boost to sentiment after U.S. chipmaker Intel's forecast-beating results.
"We've pushed ahead into new ground — almost uncharted territory, but it's pretty much on the back of U.S. earnings and this morning in the UK, let's face it, things have been relatively mixed," said Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads.
The FTSE 100 has surged more than 51 percent from a six-year trough in March, but is still 3.3 percent below its level in mid-September 2008 before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
"It's a bit difficult to see how the current trend will continue without any impetus from UK corporate earnings which obviously need to try and keep up with the expectations that have been built into share prices over the last few weeks," said Campbell.
Energy stocks were lower, despite a rise in crude — which rose for the sixth straight session to near $76 a barrel — after a rally on Wednesday.
BG Group, Royal Dutch Shell and Cairn Energy shed 0.4-0.6 percent.
Tullow Oil, which said in its drilling update the Mahogany-4 well has found oil, also retreated, dropping 0.8 percent.
Miners fell as profit takers moved in, led lower by Anglo American, off 3.2 percent, after rival Xstrata said it will not make a formal takeover offer.
Xstrata fell 1.6 percent, with Eurasian Natural Resources, Fresnillo, Kazakhmys and Lonmin off 0.8-1.7 percent.
BANKS MIXED
It was a mixed picture among banks, which received a shot in the arm after JPMorgan's forecast-beating results on Wednesday ahead of results from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup due on Thursday.
Heavyweight HSBC shed 0.6 percent, Standard Chartered lost 0.4 percent, while Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group added 0.7 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.
British wealth manager Rathbone Brothers said it was in talks with Lloyds about buying wealth management assets from Britain's largest mortgage lender. Rathbone shares were down 0.4 percent.
The Financial Times reported the British government would not underwrite a planned rights issue by Lloyds.
Among individual movers, Burberry hit a 22-month high, rising 3.8 percent and extending the previous session's gains, as JPMorgan raised its target price on the luxury goods group and lifted its full-year forecasts, following a first-half trading update on Wednesday.
