FTSE 100 closed in the red as there was mixed trading across the globe and the pound firmed.
The UK top tier benchmark closed down around 24 points at 7,700, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 lost over 104 points at 20,665.
Sterling gained 0.04% against the Euro and added 0.67% against the US dollar.
David Madden, at CMC Markets, said there was "no clear direction in investor sentiment" and the "markets were lacking a common theme across the board".
In the US, the Dow Jones lost over 111 points though the S&P 500 is up over 20 points at the time of writing.
Top laggard on FTSE 100 was Primark owner Associated British Foods (LON:ABF), which sank 3.57% to 2,755p after the sugar division weighed on the performance of the clothing department.
The biggest riser was Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL.), which gained 4.32% to 1,919.50p after an upgrade from Barclays Capital ahead of the financial firm's interim results due on February 6.
London's FTSE 100 was down 35 points or 0.46% changing hands at 7,690p.
Hargreaves Lansdown Plc (LON:HL. was the FTSE 100's top mover, rising 78p or 4.24% to 1,918p after Barclays Capital hiked its target price for the financial services platform provider by 26% and reiterated an 'overweight' rating ahead of its interim results due on February 6.
Among the banks, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (LON:RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LON:LLOY) were both higher, rising 0.51% and 0.26% respectively to 296.3p and 70.62p.
Barclays Plc (LON:BARC) was on the back foot, down 0.18% to 198.16p, while HSBC Holdings Plc (LON:HSBA) dropped 0.9% to 785.6p.
Elsewhere, London's blue-chip miners were mostly trading in positive territory, supported by positive Chinese economic stats.
Rio Tinto Plc (LON:RIO) shares added 26p or 0.65% trading at 4,030p, however, BHP Billiton plc (LON:BLT) edged 3p or 0.24% to 1,603p. Glencore Plc (LON:GLEN) climbed 3p or 0.74% to 410p and South32 Ltd (LON:S32) gained 0.8p or 0.37% to 219.2p.
Anglo American Plc (LON:AAL) shares were down 5.6p or 0.33% to 1,749p.
Over in New York, Wall Street benchmarks started higher. The Dow Jones opened up just a few points, to 26,119, while the Nasdaq also edged slightly higher.
Cryptocurrency markets rallied somewhat on Thursday, after the week's severe sell-off which was driven regulatory concerns.
Bitcoin was up US$415 or 3.73% trading at US$11,557, while the price of Ethereum climbed more than 2% at US$1,037.
Ripple's XRP token jumped over 40% to trade at US$1.50 per unit.
The FTSE 100 remained on the back foot, down 27 points or 0.36%, trading at 7,698 by midday.
Eyes are turning back towards Wall Street, where futures trading is pointing to another upbeat start to build on Wednesday's new highs.
The Dow Jones was indicated 34 points higher, with futures at 26,132, while the S&P 500 was also rising to 2,806 ahead of the open. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, was seen moving lower.
Wall Street has been boosted by Donald Trump's tax changes, and, as highlighted by AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould, America's current president is within touching distance of being "the best" post-war president for the stock market.
"If the Dow Jones Industrials rises by a further 1.3% to 26,450 by the close on Friday the headline US index will have generated its best return ever in the first year of any post-war President, something which Donald Trump may well be keen to crow about on Twitter," Mould said, in a note.
Presently, though Trump is still behind Barrick Obama - in the first year, of his first term, the Dow Jones gained 33.4% whereas in the period since Trump's inauguration (January 20 2017) the index has gained 31.7%.
As US markets are seeing a Trump bump, with the recently enacted tax changes proving largely positive for Wall Street, the demand for shares in London could, at best, be described as lacklustre.
Despite opening a smidgen higher, the FTSE 100 quickly switched into reverse to trade in negative territory for the fourth straight session.
A positive United States, in as far as it improves the US dollar, isn't particularly supportive for London's international earners.
The FTSE 100 was down 20 points, 0.27%, changing hands at 7,704.
"The FTSE's push northwards was short lived, as positivity is proving harder to come by in the UK than the rest of Europe," said Fiona Cincotta, analyst at City Index.
"The FTSE is in its fourth consecutive negative session, mainland Europe bounded higher. Not even some encouraging corporate updates were enough to keep demand for the FTSE higher."
At the same time, the FTSE 250 lowered 25 points or 0.12%, trading at 20,743 and the FTSE All Shares index was down 10 points, 0.25%, at 4,231.
Estate agent Countrywide PLC (LON:CWD) was hit in bearish trading, down 15% at 114.4p, following an update on what was described as a "disappointing" fourth quarter performance - including a 14% drop in total income, with the UK business down 17%.
Earnings (EBITDA), meanwhile, is seen at around ?26mln which would be a 45% drop with the company blaming changes in the sales and lettings structure over the past 12 to 24 months.
Foxtons Group PLC (LON:FOXT), down 3.6p or 4.4% to 78.39, and Rightmove PLC (LON:RMV) both followed, losing 98p or 2.15% down to 4,463p.
Costa Coffee owner Whitbread PLC (LON:WTB) was up around 1.9%, at 3,926p on the release of its trading update.
Royal Mail Group PLC (LON:RMG) was falling after its Christmas period trading update, with the share down 1.6% to 459.3p, which looked reasonable on paper.
"A good Christmas performance by Royal Mail but hardly enough to persuade investors that anything materially has changed with regards the investment thesis," said Neil Wilson, analyst at ETX Capital.
Primark owner Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF), meanwhile, was down almost 3% to 2,772p.
Accendo Markets analyst Henry Croft highlighted that Primark bucked the trend of the broader retailers which saw a slowdown, but, the group's disappointing overseas performance detracts from an otherwise "much rosier picture".
Galantas Gold Corporation (LON:GAL) has given investors an encouraging update on its ongoing mine development activities at its gold project in Omagh, Northern Ireland.
Challenger Acquisitions Limited (LON:CHAL) has invested in a second giant observation wheel project, this time in Dallas, Texas.
Kefi Minerals PLC (LON:KEFI) has upgraded the value of its Tulu Kapi project in Ethiopia. The junior, though, has ended its relationship with infrastructure group Oryx, which had previously agreed to provide US$135mln of project finance to build and operate the mine.
ImmuPharma PLC (LON:IMM) has completed the pivotal Phase III study of its Lupuzor lupus treatment, leaving it on track to publish top-line data from the current quarter.
FairFX Group PLC (LON:FFX), the electronic banking and international payments group, expects turnover and profits for 2017 to be ahead of market expectations.
Ortac Resources PLC (LON:OTC) has announced plans to expand and speed up its drilling after further encouraging gold assay results from its Akyanga deposit, the most advanced project at the CASA licence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
FFI Holdings PLC (LON:FFI) is to take over the running of German giant Allianz's entertainment insurance arm, a business that has underwritten thousands of films and television series. Reel Media, acquired by FFI last month, has entered into a strategic relationship with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) to become the managing general agent for its US-based studio, independent film and television business as well as its US loan-out corporation and touring business.
Healthcare-led marketing consulting group Cello Group PLC (LON:CLL) said it traded well in 2017 with continued strong growth from its Cello Health division. Results should be in line with expectations.
Project operator Egdon Resources PLC (LON:EDR) has revealed that the tussle over planning permission for the Wressle field is not over. The onshore UK company - alongside London-listed partners Europa Oil & Gas PLC (LON:EOG) and Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) - told investors that it will now make a new planning application to the North Lincolnshire council seeking consent for the Wressle field development.
Exploration partners Tullow Oil PLC (LON:TLW) and Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:ECO,CVE:EOG) have decided to take forward the Orinduik project, offshore Guyana, into Phase Two of its licence. It means the partners are committing to a new programme of seismic exploration, to gather at least 1,000 square kilometres of 3D data, though this work has actually already been undertaken (with some 2,550 square kilometres of data captured in September).
Shanta Gold (LON:SHG) has reported a strong final quarter of 2017 for its New Luika Gold Mine, in Southwest Tanzania, with gold production of 21,288 ounces, an increase of 17% on the third quarter.
BlueRock Diamonds PLC (LON:BRD) has taken its first samples from the K5 pipe at the Kareevlei diamond mine in Kimberley South Africa. While too small a sample to make firm conclusions, Adam Waugh, chief executive, said the results were encouraging and warranted further exploration.
Haydale Graphene Industries PLC (LON:HAYD), the global advanced materials group, has announced the appointment of Arden Partners as its nominated adviser to the group with immediate effect.
Early indications suggest the FTSE 100 may get off on the front foot on Thursday, albeit only very slightly.
London's blue-chip benchmark has closed lower for the past three sessions, and, whilst only a relatively small amount of ground has been lost, positivity has been hard to come by - especially following the high profile collapse of government contractor Carillion.
In the United States, however, traders have continued to push the Dow Jones to new highs above 26,000.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones climbed 322 points or 1.25% to finish the session at 26,115 while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both added around 1%, closing at 2,802 and 7,298 respectively.
It came as Apple revealed that it would expand it operations in the United States with new investment to create 20,000 new jobs. Specifically, it said the move was possible because of Donald Trump's tax changes.
"Not surprisingly tech stocks also rallied sharply on an expectation that we could see similar moves by other US companies who have large overseas cash piles, with the S&P 500 also making a record close above 2,800," said Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.
"For all the criticism of President Trump, the nature of his presidency and his economic policies, he appears to have got what he wanted in prompting US companies to reinvest their profits back into the US economy.
He added: "We also saw the US dollar bounce strongly on the back of the same news, as well as a positive Beige Book survey, with yields also pushing higher as markets started to price in a faster face of prospective rate rises."
Meanwhile, in Asia, Japan's Nikkei was trading lower, losing 0.44% to trade at 23,763. Hong Kong's Hang Seng moved 0.17% higher to 32,039 while the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.63% changing hands at 3,465.
In London, the FTSE 100 is seen only marginally higher with CFD and spreadbetting firm IG Markets calling the benchmark up 2.5 points, at 7,718 to 7,723.
The early corporate highlights are expected in the form of trading updates from Royal Mail Group PLC (LON:RMG), Primark owner Associated British Food PLC (LON:ABF) and Costa Coffee owner Whitbread PLC (LON:WTB).
Trading updates: Associated British Foods PLC (LON:ABF), Royal Mail Group PLC (LON:RMG), Whitbread PLC (LON:WTB), Experian PLC (LON:EXPN), Halfords PLC (LON:HFD), Ibstock PLC (LON:IBST), Ocado PLC (LON:OCDO), Ten Entertainment Group PLC (LON:TEG), Workspace PLC (LON:WORK)
Ex-dividends: To clip 3.04 points off FTSE 100 - Ashtead Group PLC (LON:AHT), Compass Group PLC (LON:CPG), Micros Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO), SSE PLC (LON:SSE)
Economic data: US weekly jobless, US housing starts, Philly Fed business outlook.