Wood Group led decliners in the FTSE 100 index shares with a drop of 4.30% followed by losses in Shire Plc of 3.94%, in London Stock Exchange of 3.32%, in WM Morrison of 2.77%, and British Energy of 2.48%.

Other retailers also fell on news the OFT is probing some of the biggest consumer suppliers. Sainsbury shed 2.23% and Tesco declined 1.52%.

Royal Bank of Scotland may cut 25% of its staff

Royal Bank of Scotland is likely to cut its staff by 7,000 or 25% according to a report on Bloomberg news service. RBS has recently acquired securities and Asian investment banking operations from ABN Amro at most analysts consider at very high price. RBS in a statement acknowledged that certain reduction in staff is necessary but failed to say by how many.