The London market opened on the back foot, even as the UK competition watchdog approved BT’s £12.5 billion buy out of mobile phone firm EE.
The go-ahead from the Competition and Markets Authority means the deal brings together the country’s largest fixed and mobile telecoms businesses, sending shares up by 1% at BT at one stage.
The FTSE 100 Index fell 48.1 points to 5868.6, after China’s Shanghai stock index slumped overnight to its lowest level in more than a year on reports that levels of bank credit eased last month in the world’s second largest economy.
In stocks, BT lifted 3.2p to 470.1p, after the telecoms giant was cleared to create a combination that will have 35 million mobile, broadband, and TV customers. EE is currently owned by Deutsche Telekom and Orange.
Brent Crude again dipped below 30 US dollars for a barrel of oil, hovering at 12-year lows.
This led Royal Dutch Shell and BP to both fall by more than 2%, or 34p, to 1356p and 6.8p to 341.4p respectively.
Credit checking firm Experian lifted 13p to 1145p, after it said its total growth at constant exchange rates lifted 6% in the three months to the end of December.