Ahead of the launch of Apple's iPhone 6 and following positive comments from Deutsche Bank, Arm has bucked the Scottish-driven trend and ended the day higher.
The chip maker's shares added 24.5p to 981p after an investor meeting last week hosted by the bank. Deutsche detected some positive views on future royalties although much will depend on the success of the new Apple products. It said:
[Arm] expects the worst to be over for royalties and should see pick up by the fourth quarter while quarter three is still expected to be weaker. Royalty growth in quarter four is largely a derivative of the traction for the new iPhone - a weak launch could negatively impact and stall the royalty growth.
Overall the market was dominated by concerns about Scottish independence, fuelled by weekend reports of polls showing a majority in favour of a yes vote for the first time.
Scottish linked companies therefore came under pressure, with Lloyds Banking Group down 1.8p at 72.20p and Standard Life 10.1p lower at 406.4p.
So the FTSE 100 finished down 20.33 points at 6834.77, although talk of a delay in sanctions against Russia helped the market come off its worst levels. Poor Chinese trade data and delayed reaction to the disappointing US non-farm payroll numbers on Friday also hit sentiment. David Madden, market analyst at IG said:
In London, the Scottish question has dominated the trading session. Not since the bad old days of the credit crisis have the Scottish-based banks been under as much pressure. The City of London, for too long, didn't even entertain the notion that Scotland might leave the union, and now that the YouGov poll shows the 'Yes' campaign in the lead, the attitude is cut and run, companies that have exposure to Scotland are about as popular as an RBS banker.
Associated British Foods led the fallers, down 152p to £27.57 on concerns that its continuing success at discount fashion retailer Primark could be overshadowed by a poor performance from its sugar division.
In its latest update the company maintained its guidance for its annual earnings, with a strong showing from Primark and its grocery business offsetting lower sugar prices and a £50m hit from the recent strength of sterling. Primark full year sales are expected to be 16% ahead of last year at constant exchange rates, helped by an increase in selling space of 1.2m square feet. But profits for AB Sugar were forecast to be substantially lower than 2013, with lower sugar prices, lower volumes in north China and a £20m currency hit.
Lower down the market Nostra Terra, which has a number of assets in the US, jumped 18% to 0.4p after last week's news of an acquisition of oil assets in Wyoming, near to sites owned by two major US businesses. Investors are also hoping the company will soon report news from prospects in Texas and Colorado,
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