U.K. stocks retreated on Wednesday as trade worries and concerns about slowing growth returned to haunt investors.
Trade tensions intensified after U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was holding up a trade deal with China and had no interest in moving ahead unless Beijing agrees to four or five "major points" which he did not specify.
Elsewhere, a measure of China's factory gate inflation slowed in May on weak commodity demand, reinforcing worries about cooling growth in the world's second largest economy.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 40 points or 0.54 percent at 7,358 after adding 0.3 percent on Tuesday.
Consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser Group edged down slightly after naming PepsiCo executive Laxman Narasimhan as its next chief executive officer.
British American Tobacco slumped 4.7 percent. In a first-half trading update, the tobacco firm said it expects global industry volumes to decline 3.5 percent.
Saga Plc., a specialist in products and services for life after 50, tumbled 3.3 percent after the company said the process to hire a replacement for Group Chief Executive Officer Lance Batchelor has started.
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto rose half a per cent after providing further details about its global tailings facilities.
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