The Footsie plummeted in early trading and stood firmly below the 5,700 level, losing more than 1.5%.

Disappointing US economic data has more than offset relief that the US debt ceiling law has been passed, and is overshadowing a busy morning for company announcements.

Meanwhile, renewed fears over the Eurozone have surfaced, with speculation that the region's third and fourth largest economies, Italy and Spain respectively, may potentially need to follow Greece down the bail-out route.

In London, Standard Chartered, the bank focused on emerging markets, was the high riser after it topped market expectations with record first half profits for the ninth successive year.

High street retailer Next edged lower after announcing that total sales rose 3.2% in the first half of the year, as strong growth in Directory offset a moderate decline in Retail.

Kazakhstan-focused miner Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) fell despite saying that production for the second quarter was at effective full capacity, with volumes in line with expectations.

A Carillion joint venture, Hospital Infrastructure Partners, has been selected as the preferred bidder to finance, design, build and provide facilities management and life-cycle maintenance services for the new replacement Oakville Hospital in Ontario. Carillion's shares fell over 2.5% lower.

Property listings web site Rightmove was higher after revenue in the first half of 2011 jumped 20% to £47m, from £39.2m.

International infrastructure group Balfour Beatty was out of favour despite bagging a street light contract from Northamptonshire County Council worth £230m.

BC
FTSE 100 - Risers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,574.50p +1.32%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 339.60p +1.19%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,512.00p +0.60%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 169.20p +0.15%
Rexam (REX) 354.30p +0.14%
National Grid (NG.) 603.00p +0.08%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
ARM Holdings (ARM) 535.50p -6.05%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 335.10p -4.99%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,098.00p -4.27%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,803.00p -3.74%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,212.00p -3.43%
SABMiller (SAB) 2,206.50p -3.03%
IMI (IMI) 960.50p -3.03%
ITV (ITV) 65.10p -2.98%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,915.00p -2.69%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,156.50p -2.69%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 64.80p +6.58%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 140.00p +2.94%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 947.50p +1.88%
Edinburgh Dragon Trust (EFM) 239.80p +1.14%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 121.50p +0.91%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 143.50p +0.70%
SDL (SDL) 685.50p +0.66%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 464.00p +0.54%
Keller Group (KLR) 439.20p +0.48%
Pennon Group (PNN) 738.50p +0.41%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Regus (RGU) 94.05p -5.90%
Amlin (AML) 317.90p -5.10%
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 12.65p -4.96%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 367.70p -4.84%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 133.20p -4.72%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,221.00p -4.61%
Pace (PIC) 105.20p -4.36%
Bodycote (BOY) 351.10p -4.02%
DS Smith (SMDS) 222.50p -3.89%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 467.70p -3.79%

Related share prices
Standard Chartered (STAN) share price
Balfour Beatty (BBY) share price
Next (NXT) share price
Carillion (CLLN) share price
Rightmove (RMV) share price
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) share price