The FTSE 100 touched its lowest since Dec. 2 in early trading, but clawed back some of its losses to trade down 1.2% as the pound's 2% drop limited a fall in the exporter-heavy index.
A parliamentary inquiry has called on Rio to pay restitution to Indigenous Australians affected by the destruction and also fully reconstruct the rock shelters.
Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant Unilever said last month it plans to ditch its dual Anglo-Dutch legal structure and create a single entity in Britain.
Unilever's decision to move followed the scrapping in 2018 of a plan by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to do away with a 15% dividend withholding tax.
"They were kickbacks. And Eni and Shell knew it," Sergio Spadaro told judges in Milan, summing up the prosecutors' case in what is one of the industry's largest corruption scandals.
Italy's Eni and Shell, who deny any wrongdoing, acquired the OPL 245 offshore field in 2011 for about $1.3 billion from Malabu.