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By midday the FTSE 100 was down 1.2% to 7,406.21 amid concerns over Russia-Ukraine tensions and the impact of prospective increases in interest rates on markets.
Consumer giant Unilever was a rare gainer, adding 5.8% to £38.86 on reports that US activist investor Nelson Peltz had build a stake in the company through his fund Trian Partners.
Computer services provider Computacenter gained 2.2% to £27.5622, having upgraded its profit outlook despite experiencing ongoing supply-chain disruptions.
Computacenter's pre-tax profit for the year through December was now expected to 'slightly in excess' of £250 million.
Shares in bank note printer De La Rue sank 23% to 116p after the company lowered its profit expectations following cost and supply chain challenges as well as increased staff absences due to increased Covid infections.
Thermal energy and niche pumping specialist Spirax-Sarco Engineering edged back less than 0.1% to £13.035 on news it would acquire Cotopaxi from Business Intelligence of Oriental Nations for £13.3 million.
Cotopaxi was a global energy consulting and optimisation group that comprised a team of 38 energy engineers and software specialists.
Student accommodation developer Unite reversed 0.4% to £10.355 after it announced it had acquired a consented 270-bed development site in Nottingham's city centre.
Total development costs for the scheme, which would open for the 2024/25 academic year, were estimated to be £34 million.
Precious metals miner Polymetal International fell 0.5% to £12.14 even as it revealed an initial mineral resource estimate for the Novopet project in Bashkortostan, Russia.
The estimate amounted to 2.4 million ounces of gold equivalent at an average grade of 8 grams per tonne.
Russia-focused gold miner Petropavlovsk shed 1.5% to 15.24p following news that it had appointed Stanislav Ploshchenko as its chief financial officer, to replace Danila Kotlyarov.
Ploshchenko had since 2016 held senior executive roles at East Mining Company and previously had worked at CTC Media and Commerzbank.
Banknote authentication group Spectra Systems firmed 3.6% to 155.45p after it won three new contracts, from central bank and lottery customers.
The contracts would generate $700,000 of additional unforecast revenue for the 2022 calendar year, Spectra said.