The mobile telecommunications sector was the worst performer of the day with stocks falling an average 1.96%.Vodafone was a major reason, with the telecoms giant falling 2.2% before the close of trade on Wednesday after being downgraded by Exane BNP Paribas from neutral to underperform. The broker also cut its target price from 195p to 175p.Meanwhile, a competition investigation into meetings held between Europe's largest telecoms could also be weighing on the stock today.The European Union antitrust watchdog has request information from the E5 - Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Telecom Italia and Telefonica - regarding the meetings they have held together to discuss the market."The requests for information relate to the manner in which standardisation for future services in the mobile communications area is taking place," EU Competition Commisioner spokesman Joaequin Almunia said."These fact-finding steps do not mean that we have competition concerns at this stage, nor do they prejudge the follow-up," Almunia assured.In contrast, life insurance stocks were gaining an average 3.01%, boosting by some well-received results from Legal & General. Shares rose 5.9%.The legion of income investors holding shares of Legal and General were cheered by the insurance leviathan's decision to bump up the 2011 dividend by more than a third, well ahead of market expectations. The final dividend in respect of fiscal 2011 has been increased by a whopping 39% to 4.74p per share, meaning the full year dividend rises to 6.40p, up 35% on 2010's payment of 4.75p and well above the 5.94p the market had been expecting.Sector peers Resolution, Aviva and Prudential were also making gains of 5.8%, 3.8% and 2.9%, respectively.BCTop performing sectors so far todayLife Insurance 4,679.80 +3.01%Automobiles & Parts 5,155.44 +2.08%Electricity 8,406.33 +1.63%Banks 4,060.02 +1.41%Insurance (non-life) 1,484.98 +1.15%Bottom performing sectors so far todayMobile Telecommunications 3,881.11 -1.96%Mining 21,417.51 -1.54%Household Goods & Home Construction 7,196.17 -1.38%Forestry & Paper 6,565.14 -1.30%Personal Goods 23,878.11 -1.10%