Britain's top share index was 0.1 percent lower mid-session on Thursday as investors liking for risk was showing signs of fatigue ahead of a long holiday weekend following recent hefty gains.
London markets will be closed on Monday.
Banks and miners were the main drag, hit by profit taking, while drinks group Diageo dropped after cutting its profit target, but defensive pharmaceutical and utility stocks, as well as oils were the main cause for cheer.
By 1110 GMT, the benchmark FTSE 100 was down 5.98 points at 4884.60, in a choppy session, after closing 26.22 points lower at 4,880.58 on Wednesday.
Banks were the worst sector performers, with Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered and HSBC Holdings losing down 0.7-2.6 percent.
Barclays, however, rallied 0.9 percent, helped by an upgrade to 'outperform' from 'market perform' by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.
Heavyweight miners, which have been major players in the recovery of the British market were again hit by profit takers, with Lonmin, Xstrata, Eurasian Natural Resources, and Rio Tinto losing 0.5-1.7 percent.
Kazakhmys, however, gained 3.8 percent after the copper producer posted a better-than-expected 28 percent fall in first-half earnings per share, and said it should beat its full-year output target..
"There is a small piece of risk aversion having come so far so quickly. Before any potential economic recovery is definitely confirmed there is an amount of tactical switching between defensive and cyclical stocks," said Richard Hunter, head of UK Equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.
"Were now looking towards the summer bank holiday in the UK and Labor Day in the U.S., after which everyone will be back at their desk, there will be more volume going through the market and certainly more focus."
The FTSE has rallied 42 percent since hitting an all-time low in March and has rebounded 10 percent so far this year thanks to brightening economic data and improving corporate earnings.
Among individual fallers, Diageo, the world's biggest spirits group, fell 3.9 percent after cutting its profit target this year due to concerns about the strength of any recovery.
Oil services and engineering group Amec lost 4.2 percent as investors locked in profits after it reported a 25 percent increase in first-half profit.
DEFENSIVES, OILS WANTED
Oil majors moved higher as crude prices stabilised. Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group, Tullow Oil, and Cairn Energy rose 0.3-0.9 percent.
Drugmakers was the top performing sector led by a 1.7 percent rise in GlaxoSmithKline, while AstraZeneca and Shire put on 1.4 and 0.5 percent, respectively.
Danish biotech firm Genmab said late on Wednesday it got positive top-line results from a phase II study of its Arzerra cancer drug, co-developed with GlaxoSmithKline.
Utilities also saw interest, with Centrica, Pennon and Severn Trent up 0.9-1.0 percent.
Smith & Nephew rose 4 percent, after comment in the Lex column in the Financial Times on the effect of the ageing "baby boomer" generation on the medical device sector.
British economic data was mixed on Wednesday. A CBI report showed retail sales fell faster than expected in August after a sharp drop in durable household goods.
Meanwhile, house prices rose for the fourth month running and at their fastest monthly rate in 2-1/2 years in August, the Nationwide Building Society said.
Investors, however, eyed the second reading for U.S. second-quarter GDP, due at 1230 GMT. Economists see a 1.5 percent contraction after the economy shrank 1 percent on an annualised basis on the first reading.
U.S. initial jobless claims are also due at 1230 GMT.
Stock index futures pointed to a opening mixed in the United States, with the Dow Jones up 0.1 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were pointing down 0.1 percent.
