The FTSE 100 extended its decline as trading got underway on Friday.
About half an hour into the session, the blue chip index was down two-thirds of a percent at 8,629.
Rentokil Initial PLC led the fallers with a 2.8% decline as the stock remained under pressure following results on Thursday.
But Melrose Industries bounced back by 4.6% in early trade, recovering some of Thursday's losses.
Just Group PLC was the biggest mid-cap loser, shedding 11.7% despite exceeding expectations with full year results earlier in the day.
In other news, house prices slightly declined between January and February as time ran out for prospective buyers to avoid paying hiked stamp duty from April.
According to Halifax, average prices fell by 0.1% over the month to £298,602 as a slowdown was seen across most areas of the UK.
