(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) Britain's blue chips dropped sharply at the close to end 1.05% down at 6501.
It comes after weak trading on Wall Street which saw the Dow drop 147 points after the key jobs report showed average hourly wages fell in December last year - against expectations it would rise.
It represented the first fall in the rate since the summer of 2013.
Investors took flight despite positive non-farm payroll figures which showed over 250000 jobs were created last month.
In London it was the housebuilders that were today under pressure and supermarkets.
() () and () were the biggest laggards - with shedding 5.35%. Broadcaster () on the other hand was the biggest riser.
It came as US investment bank Jefferies made no fewer than 12 downgrades as it turned bearish on the UK residential housing sector.
It said it expected lead indicators such as mortgage approvals house price data and GDP to weaken in the first quarter putting pressure on building stocks.
May’s general election will see this uncertainty continue into second three months of 2015 it added.
Also denting investor sentiment as the first proper trading week of the new year drew to a close was stats on the UK's industrial output.
Industrial and construction production unexpectedly declined in November last year.
Also on the UK macro front the oil price slump has heloed to narrow the UK's trade deficit compared to the rest of the world it was reported this morning.
In the small caps low-cost airline () flew over 24% as it said it had completed the first part of its Zambian licence application.
The country's Civil Aviation Authority has approved Phase 1 of the African airline's Air Operating Certificate (AOC).
The next stage will see the authorities evaluate the company’s corporate structure aeroplanes and its operational plan for the country.
Also up is (LON:AMUR) - over 16% - as it said it had issued new shares to the board executive staff and other service providers in lieu of fees.
It comes as the firm awaits the decision on an award of its "Detailed Exploration and Production Licence" for the Kun-Manie nickel copper sulphide project in the Russian Far East.
Another big gainer is () which added over 26% on the day.
It's been a positive week for the company. Shares soared over 200% on Tuesday after an apparent legal breakthrough for the intellectual property firm’s database software subsidiary DataTern.
It is the latest ruling in an ongoing patent infringement battle with MicroStrategy and other tech firms.
A US Federal Court has sent the case back to the Massachusetts District Court that previously ruled MicroStrategy had not infringed DataTern’s patents.
Other notable gainers were () which added over 19% on the day and () which gained 8.51%.
It comes as the firm issued around 20 million shares to Darwin Strategic to satisfy a £50000 loan amount at 0.25p.
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