Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS.L) was the biggest faller as the FTSE 100 closed just below the 5,100 mark.

The part-nationalised bank dropped 5.3 per cent to 19.67p, in what was a difficult session once again for banking stocks.

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) and Barclays (BARC.L) also dropped, with the former losing 2.9 per cent, down to 27.56p, as the latter slipped 2.8 per cent to 146.25p.

Essar Energy (ESSR.L) saw its share price slip by 3.8 per cent to 247.9p, while miner Kazakhmys (KAS.L) dropped 2.5 per cent to 925.5p.

At the other end of the spectrum, catering services company Compass Group (CPG.L) climbed 4 per cent higher to 537.5p.

It was joined at the top by gold miner Randgold Resources (RRS.L), which rose 3.9 per cent to 6,870p, and interdealer broker ICAP (ICAP.L), closing 3.8 per cent higher at 425p.

Oil & gas services company Petrofac (PFC.L) saw its share price rise by 3.7 per cent to 1,211p, after bullish first half results, as silver miner Fresnillo (FRES.L) added 3.5 per cent to its share price, to close at 2,039p.

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