It was a choppy morning for UK markets on Tuesday as stocks pared losses after bouncing off their lowest levels in nearly four months.
Nevertheless, a raft of disappointing corporate earnings and ongoing concerns about global economic growth ensured that equities still remained in negative territory.
The FTSE 100 was trading around 0.4% lower by midday at 6,437, having trimmed losses after reaching an intraday low of 6.416.72 early on - the last time the index closed lower than this was on October 9th 2013.
"Traders are treading lightly, not wanting to get stung if there is a sudden exodus from equities into cash or bonds," said David Madden, Market Analyst at IG.
The downwards pressure followed steep falls overnight in Asia and on Wall Street on Monday with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ending with their worst losses since June 2013.
Data yesterday showed that manufacturing activity in the States slowed considerably in January due to the severe winter weather across many regions.
Plummeting temperatures were also to blame for sharp drops in car sales reported by many of the nation's big auto companies yesterday.
Meanwhile, there were renewed worries about the US debt ceiling after Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned that the federal debt limit could be breached by the end of the month.
Traders will also be showing nerves ahead of a key policy meeting at the European Central Bank later on Thursday and the all-important US jobs report due Friday.
ARM, BP, Electrocomponents and Ocado provide a drag.
Chip designer ARM Holdings dropped sharply after its fourth-quarter results showed that Processor Division royalties came in below forecasts once again. Strong licensing revenues, however, helped top-line figures come in ahead of expectations.
Oil major BP was lower after it reported a weaker bottom line for the fourth quarter, leading to a steep drop in underlying profits for 2013. The company also warned that underlying production in 2014 would be lower than last year.
Electronics and maintenance products distributor Electrocomponents sank despite meeting estimates with underlying sales growth of 2% in the four months through January
