London markets are in a cautious mood as news of weak sales figures from Legal & General hit the insurance sector.
Legal & General lost 4.9% to 102.25p after the life assurance company disappointed analysts with weak bulk annuity sales in its fourth-quarter trading update.
An analyst at JP Morgan, Roger Doig, forecast that L&G's UK profit margin in the second half would fall 1% owing to the company's soft figures in high-margin annuities. Another contributory factor would be greater exposure than rivals to low-margin pension business.
Prudential lost 2.5% to 486p, while Royal & SunAlliance lost 1.8% to 93.25p.
The FTSE 100 lost 0.3% at 4,445.5 - while the FTSE 250 index fell 0.2% to 6,036.4. Volumes were firm, with 3.1 billion shares changing hands.
