The FTSE Small Cap index and junior-listed AIM shares shed0.1 percent and 0.4 percent respectively, outperforming the broader market, withthe mid-caps off 1 percent and the blue chips 1.5 percent lower.
Max Petroleum, an oil and gas company focused on Kazakhstan, drops21 percent after saying it has started a cost-cutting programme, reflecting itsshift from exploration & development to production, aimed at boosting cash flow.
"With the cash flow will inevitable come opportunity, it is just going totake longer than the Company, or investors, first believed," analysts at SPAngel write in a note.
Technology solutions provider e2v technologies falls 4 percent afterflagging in a trading update that end markets remain challenging, particularlythe U.S. defence and machine vision sectors.
"There are signs that the soft market trends are stabilising, but we remaincautious on the short-term outlook," Investec Securities says in a note.
Reuters messaging rm://tricia.wright1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net