London's biggest shares fell this morning as weak banks weighed on the market.
The FTSE 100 was down 10.4 points to 5,893 earlier this morning. Banking stocks were weak, with HBOS, Northern Rock and HSBC all down about 1 per cent each, although buoyant miners and oil shares helped to limit the market's drop.
BP rose 0.4 per cent and Shell was up 0.7 per cent.
Market watchers said a drop in house prices in England and Wales, according to the latest survey from property website Rightmove, was one factor contributing to the dip in banks, as well as a general market pull-back.
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Financial bookmakers had expected the market to trade higher, after New York's Dow Jones index logged its highest close since mid-May.