The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell for a third straight day to trade near the previous session's seven-week intra-day low. At 0709 GMT, the index was down 13.41 points, or 0.2 percent, at 6,326.67 points.
Recent encouraging macroeconomic data from the United States has raised concerns that the Fed could scale down its bond buying programme, which had helped the index to scale a 13-year high last month. It has fallen nearly 9 percent since the peak.
Severn Trent fell 9.7 percent after the Canadian-led consortium wooing the company walked away empty handed on Tuesday as the British water company refused to engage in talks before a bid deadline expired.
Vodafone was down 5.3 percent as the company traded without entitlements to its latest dividend payout and as Vodafone said it had made a preliminary takeover bid for Germany's biggest cable company, Kabel Deutschland Holding.