London's equity market remained gripped with anxiety over the course of US interest rates ahead of the FOMC meeting.
The Fed's decision was due at 7.15 p.m., long after London closed for the day.
"The market has been spooked by worries over what the statement with the interest rate news will say," said one market-maker.
He insisted that there had once again been no really heavy selling pressure in the market, and that the institutions had simply shut up shop until the US decision was out of the way.
The end of the second quarter on Friday was another factor inhibiting market operators.
Already suffering from the long-standing interest rate jitters, London dipped further in the afternoon as the latest US economic data showed that durable goods orders rose 6 per cent in May, compared with a consensus forecast of 3 per cent.
The market's super stocks, which carry enormous impact because of their weightings, were given a rough ride, driving the index sharply lower.
Vodafone AirTouch, the UK's biggest stock by market capitalisation, accounted for more than 30 Footsie points. BP Amoco wiped another 13 points off the index, while Shell was similarly depressed as was BT and Cable & Wireless.
By the end of the session the FTSE 100 was looking extremely weary, down 61.8 at 6,313.5, after 6,310.8.
But the weakness in the heavyweight stocks did not extend across the board. There remained plenty of winners in the top 100 stocks, including many of the recently weak banks, and Freeserve, the Internet service provider which was so badly damaged by the withdrawal of T-Online from bid negotiations.
Dealers pointed out, however, that Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, which forecast the steep decline in Freeserve shares, had cut its price target again, down to 280p.
The rest of the stock market was much better behaved. The FTSE 250 nudged up 5.3 to 6,578.4.
The FTSE SmallCap eased 3.5 to 3,364.5, despite the emergence of couple of bids. The Techmark 100 settled 13.93 off at 3,400.10.
James Montier, strategist at Old Mutual Securities delivered a bullish assessment of London equities.
"The UK stock market has firmly refused to celebrate the increasingly consensual view that UK short-term interest rates will not have to go much higher. Both the interest rate futures market and the bond market have shown no such qualms and have enjoyed substantial rallies.
"Perhaps the UK market has been suffering an earnings headwind. However, this has now turned and analysts are upgrading forecasts. We can find no fundamental cause for the market's current malaise.
"Valuations against bonds appear very supportive of stocks. With earnings momentum now favourable it is time to overweight UK equities."
