The UK’s top stock index slipped into the red on Tuesday despite soaring gold prices helping give precious metal miners a boost.
The FTSE 100 was down by 8.68 points, or 0.11%, to close the day at 7,934.79.
Gold miner Fresnillo jumped to the top of the blue-chip index with gains of about 4.5% as the spot price of gold hit new all-time highs.
Gold was trading at highs of nearly 2,365 US dollars (£1,866) per ounce during the day as investors continued to drive a rally and central banks like China buy up reserves of the precious metal.
Copper miner Antofagasta and Anglo American were also among the biggest risers on the FTSE 100 on Tuesday.
Other top European stock indices had a worse session, reversing gains made on Monday. In Frankfurt, the Dax dropped 1.32% and in Paris, the Cac 40 closed 0.86% lower.
Over in the US, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Dow Jones down about 0.6% by the time European stock markets closed.
Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: “A cautious start to the day for European equities set the tone for Wall Street with US shares in the red as trading began across the pond.
“With Nvidia down more than 3%, investors were in a bad mood and they may not get out of the funk until we’ve seen US inflation figures on Wednesday.
“The central bank wants to see sustained evidence of inflation coming down and that doesn’t appear to be on the menu.”
Mr Coatsworth said there could be “turbulence” in the markets this week as a result of the latest economic data coming from the world’s biggest economy.
The pound was up about 0.15% to 1.2672 US dollars and 0.2% to 1.1675 euro.
The price of Brent crude oil fell by 0.5% to 89.90 US dollars.
In company news, shares in BP rose after the oil giant told investors it was expecting an increase in oil and gas production in the first three months of this year.
But because oil and gas prices have dropped quarter on quarter, it said it nonetheless expects to take a financial hit. Shares in BP closed 1.3% higher.
Shares in Imperial Brands dipped despite the tobacco company revealing it was expecting higher half-year profits after being boosted by increases in tobacco prices.
The cigarette maker said tobacco sales had risen in the US, Spain and Australia, broadly offsetting declines in the UK and Germany, while it continues to invest in products including e-cigarettes. Its share price closed 1.9% lower.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Fresnillo, up 22p to 578p, St James’s Place, up 12.8p to 441p, Antofagasta, up 54p to 2,269p, Croda, up 103p to 4,700p, and Halma, up 45p to 2,294p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were BAE Systems, down 60.5p to 1,277p, Rolls-Royce, down 16.9p to 412.2p, Standard Chartered, down 26.2p to 672.8p, Melrose Industries, down 21.4p to 649.4p, and Beazley, down 21p to 654.5p.