The sceptics in the London market won the day as the premier index refused to follow the lead set by Wall Street, and instead continued to chart its own course which saw it end lower.

Within the first hour of trading, the FTSE 100 index had fallen to 6,220.1. The tightening of US interest rates was again the main topic of conversation, with no change expected in British rates at tomorrow's Bank of England monetary policy committee meeting.

A feature that did not register on any of the dealing-room screens was a £1 billion sterling cross trade in Footsie futures that was carried out by Deutsche Bank. The FTSE 100 closed down 37.7 at 6,250.6 but buyers were in evidence for mid-cap stocks, with the FTSE 250 closing 22.3 up at 5,992.4. Volume improved on Monday's level, reaching 1.05 billion.