The last few minutes of trading spoilt what was otherwise a mostly positive start to an important week for London's equity market.
In the course of the last three minutes of the official session and an extended post market auction period, the FTSE 100 dipped into the red to close a net 3.8 off at 5,661.9.
It was another dose of weakness in the TMTs (technology, media and telecom stock) that drove the market back into negative territory during the frantic late period.
Media stocks dominated as the worst performers in the FTSE 100, amid renewed concerns about the extent of the downturn in television advertising. BSkyB, Carlton and Granada were all down in excess of 4 per cent.
Close behind came a block of technology and telecommunications stock which included the constantly harried Vodafone, whose shares dropped to their lowest level since October 1998 and whose market capitalisation is now within #1.8 billion of dropping below the #100 billion level. A fall from last night's 150p to 147p would see the company's value drop below the #100 billion trap door.
It was more or less the same for the other main indices, with the exception of the FTSE SmallCap which was always in the red and only just managed to escape slipping below the 3,000 level for the first time since April 20. The SmallCap settled a net 12.0 off at 3,000.4.
The FTSE 250 closed 3.6 off at 6,336.9 and the Techmark 100 lost 7.92 to 1,799.86.
Standard Life Investments said yesterday that it has taken on more equity exposure at the expense of bonds. Upping its already heavy positions in US and UK, it shifted its view because it "expects the current setback to be temporary and the favourable global monetary environment to once again encourage a period of strength". To balance these changes it has moved its European bonds and property exposure to "light" from "neutral".
Ken Forman, Standard Life's global investment strategist said: "We believe that any dips in the equity markets provide good buying opportunities in the current environment."
