Fresh European sanctions against Russia weighed on markets in a session when the pound and banking stocks recovered some poise.
Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland were 0.9p higher to 74.1p and 3.8p to 346p respectively after telling investors their plans in the event of a Scottish 'Yes' vote would see a transfer of operations south of the border.
But this failed to calm the wider London market as the FTSE 100 Index fell 30.5 points to 6,799.6, on a day which also saw the EU impose further sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
However, the pound was firmer, at just above 1.62 versus the US dollar, after a new opinion poll showed slightly stronger support for the No camp. Sterling was also slightly higher against the euro, at 1.25.
In a busy session for retail results, supermarket Morrisons rose 1.2p to 177.8p despite reporting a 51 per cent drop in half-year profits to £181 million.
The Yorkshire-based company's beleaguered share price has shown signs of recovery recently amid industry data indicating that it may have turned a corner on sales.
Morrisons insisted there was a long way to go in its three-year revival plan - particularly with conditions remaining so challenging - but expressed its confidence by raising its half-year dividend by five per cent.
Elsewhere, Next shares gave up recent gains after it reported a 19 per cent rise in half-year profits to £324.2 million and said the last six months had been its strongest in many years.
Shares in the fashion chain paused for breath after a recent strong run to stand three per cent, or 215p lower at 6,950p.
Argos owner Home Retail Group fell more than seven per cent, or 13.6p to 174p, after the catalogue chain disappointed the City with like-for-like sales growth of only 1.2 per cent for the 13 weeks to August 30, compared with expectations of 3.4 per cent.
The update also dashed City hopes that Homebase is about to be sold to US buyout funds after chief executive John Walden said there was no sale process under way. Homebase sales were 0.1% higher in the period.
Shares in homewares chain Dunelm were 6.5p higher at 857p after it announced the shock return of Will Adderley as chief executive at the firm set up by his parents.
He replaces former Halfords director Nick Wharton who has held the role for four years and announced a seven per cent rise in full-year profits to £116 million.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were SSE , which was up 40p at 1,485p, ITV up 4.4p at 216.8p, Standard Life up 6p at 413.5p and Lloyds Banking Group up 0.9p at 74.1p
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Tullow Oil, which went down 22.5p to finish at 697.5p, Next down 215p at 6,950p, Fresnillo down 23p at 819p and Hargreaves Landsdown ended down 18p at 1,004p.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article