In a downbeat Monday performance, London's leading stocks extended their losing streak to a fourth session yesterday.

But dealers insisted that the downside pressures affecting the frontline stocks were no more than minimal, and that it was mostly sentiment, rather than actual selling, that had caused the market setback.

The mid and small-cap sectors, which have outpaced the FTSE 100 since the start of the year, were again sustained by the take-over news prevalent among engineering and other sectors.

But even the mid-caps were tainted by bursts of profit-taking. despite racing ahead in recent weeks as bids galore have emerged in the sector and as the housebuilders have responded to five months of UK interest rate cuts,

At the close the FTSE 100 index was left with a 20.4 decline at 5,834.9, extending its fall over the past four sessions to 178.1 or 3 per cent.

"The bids keep coming in the smaller companies and that is something the market can't argue with, unlike the leaders," said one small companies market-maker.

Turnover in London remained robust, reaching 1.01 billionn shares at 6 p.m.