Fears over Chinese demand combined with another decline in oil prices to trigger a poor start to the week for European markets.
A slump in export growth in the world’s second largest economy spooked investors, particularly as imports also contracted rather than expanded.
With the price of Brent crude oil now well below 70 US dollars a barrel, the impact of falling mining and energy stocks meant the FTSE 100 Index dipped by 55.4 points to 6687.1, a drop of 0.7%.
Big fallers included BHP Billiton with a decline of 27.5p to 1446.5p, while oil and gas services firm Weir was 44.5p cheaper at 1794p.