The London market reversed early gains to slide lower today, pulled down by falls in heavyweight banking and insurance stocks.
The FTSE 100 Index started the session on an upbeat note, managing a push above the 3,900 mark, but by lunchtime the gains had evaporated and the Footsie was 65.8 points down at 3794.3.
Rises on Wall Street on Friday initially helped the mood, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-dominated Nasdaq closing higher.
But Asian markets were weak and traders were expecting a subdued start to dealing in the United States this afternoon.
In London, banking and insurance shares were hard hit. Banking giant Barclays was one of the morning's heaviest fallers, off 22 pence at 373 pence, as JP Morgan cut full-year earnings estimates for 2002 and 2003.
The retail banking sector has been hit by growing levels of bad debt, and HBOS lost 15 pence to 657 pence, Lloyds TSB fell 10 pence at 481 pence and Royal Bank of Scotland was down 34 pence at #12.73 sterling.