LONDON: Britain's top share index edged down from its highest close in the year on Wednesday, hit by a renewed fall in the price of oil and a drop in financial stocks.
The FTSE 100 was down 27.78 points, or 0.4 percent, at 6,377.57 by 0755 GMT, having closed at 6,405.35 in the previous session - the index's highest close since December 3. The index is up nearly 16 percent from 3-1/2 year lows in February, but remains down 10 percent from an all-time high hit a year ago.
Energy shares were the biggest weight on the index, trimming 6.5 points off the index, as crude prices fell back after Kuwaiti oil workers ended a strike, allowing the market to refocus on concerns over market oversupply.
Market weakness at the start of the year was due in large part to concerns over a slump in oil, but with Brent comfortably back over $40 a barrel, traders said they expected the latest dip to be short-lived.
"Oil is making it more difficult for the equity market to rally," said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG.
Top individual faller was Hargreaves Lansdown, down 2.6 percent. Financials in general trimmed 2.5 points off the market, in keeping with the day's risk-off tone. Traders also cited Swiss peer's GAM poorly received results as having impact on the UK sector. It said that turbulent market conditions are likely to continue to weigh on client sentiment and flows in the near term.
Burberry fell 0.7 percent after being cut to "neutral" from "buy" by Goldman Sachs, while telecom BT fell 1.8 percent after it also suffered a broker downgrade from Jefferies, to "hold" from "buy".
Top riser was chip designer ARM, up 3.7 percent after it beat forecasts with a 14 percent rise in quarterly profit.
"ARM's Q1 results were solid driven by strong out-performance (10%) for processor licensing revenue," analysts at UBS said in a note.
"The strength in licensing bodes well for medium term royalty revenue which has been a wider concern for potential investors in our view and supports our positive investment thesis."
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