The FTSE 100 index closed slightly down today, dragged down by early losses on Wall Street.
The index of London's top 100 shares closed down by 8.6 points at 5477.5 - a mere 0.2% decline.
The biggest gainers were the miners, buoyed by rising commodity prices, while shopping mall owner Liberty International led the losers.
Liberty fell 5.4% or 48.5p to 851.5p as Deutsche Bank issued a sell rating on the stock following a fall in the value of the group's assets.
Insurer Friends Provident fell 4.5p to 87.2p on the back of a 20% drop in first-half profits.
Smith & Nephew, Europe's biggest medical device maker, was up 29.5p to 597p, after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.
Marks & Spencer ended the day 1p down at 283p, after the medical charity the Wellcome Trust emerged as the holder of a 2.5% stake.
Traders have speculated in recent days that a bidder could be stalking M&S and the Halley family - until recently the largest shareholder in the French supermarket giant Carrefour - was named as a potential suitor.
But now it seems that no bid is in the offing for the group, which lost a quarter of its market value in a single day after issuing a profit warning last month. The shares have remained stuck below £3 ever since.
Today's Bank of England decision to hold interest rates at 5% for the fourth successive month appeared to make no difference to the market.
