Britain's top share index shed 0.2 percent in early deals on Thursday, extending a slide from the previous session with weakness in oils and caution ahead of U.S GDP numbers countering a recovery in banks.
At 0913 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was 10.25 points lower at 5,070.07, having closed down 120.55 points at 5,080.42 on Wednesday, its biggest one-day percentage fall since July 2.
"Any upwards progress is likely to be stemmed by the US GDP figure … which will be viewed with trepidation in the wake of the UK's surprise negative growth figure last week", said Sam Wright, a trader at Spreadex.
U.S. third-quarter GDP numbers, due at 1230 GMT, will give investors a further idea as to the durability of the perceived recovery after a shock fall in UK Q3 GDP on Friday.
According to a Reuters poll of 77 economists, the U.S. economy is expected to have grown 3.3 percent at an annualised rate in the third quarter, after shrinking 0.7 percent in the second.
Banks were the biggest blue chip gainers, bouncing back after sharp falls earlier this week on concerns over possible break-up calls from the European Commission following a move by Dutch peer ING to split in two.
Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group were strong risers, up 6.3 and 4.4 percent, respectively, on raised hopes Lloyds will be able to proceed with a crucial refinancing to allow it to exit the British government's asset protection scheme.
British finance minister Alistair Darling will allow Lloyds to test its capital-raising plans in the market and formally appoint underwriters, the Financial Times said on Thursday.
Other banks saw more modest gains, with Barclays up 1.2 percent and HSBC ahead 1.0 percent, but Standard Chartered shed 0.4 percent.
Insurers, another sector under pressure in recent sessions also rallied, with Prudential adding 2.6 percent following results on Wednesday, while Aviva gained 1.6 percent and RSA Insurance firmed 0.5 percent.
Standard Life missed out on the recovery, however, down 2.1 percent after the insurer said its sales fell 15 percent in the first nine months of the year, broadly as expected, weighed down by weak financial markets.
SHELL WASHED UP
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell was the biggest blue chip faller, down 3.6 percent after it said third quarter net profits fell 73 percent, hit by falling oil and gas prices and refining margins, and Chief Executive Peter Voser warned of a slow recovery.
Shell's numbers ended a mixed batch of third quarter results for the oil majors, with BP beating forecasts on Tuesday but BG Group missing output forecasts on Wednesday.
BG Group shares shed 1.6 percent, while BP fell 0.3 percent, and oil explorers Cairn Energy and Tullow Oil lost 1.1 and 0.7 percent respectively.
Heavyweight drugs issues were also weaker awaiting further results in the sector, with AstraZeneca due to post its third-quarter numbers at 1100 GMT on Wednesday.
AstraZeneca was down 1.4 percent awaiting the numbers, while GlaxoSmithKline which reported slightly disappointing figures on Wednesday shed 1.0 percent, and Shire, which reports on Friday, fell 0.3 percent.
Among the mid caps, National Express was the biggest faller, down 10.3 percent after bus and rail peer Stagecoach said National Express has decided not to pursue proposals for a merger.
Stagecoach shares gained 0.8 percent.
U.S. jobless claims for the week ending 24 Oct. will come under scrutiny later in the session but the main focus will remain U.S. GDP.
