London's top-flight today ended a six-day winning streak that has seen it burst through the 7,000 mark despite a brief rally as investors cheered official figures showing UK inflation fell to zero last month for the first time on record.

The slide in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation shored up expectations that interest rates will remain lower for longer and helped the FTSE 100 Index advance to a new intraday record of 7065.1.

But the fizz later came out of the rally, leaving the index down 18 points points at 7019.7 at the close.

Poor data from China was weighing on sentiment, with a survey showing the manufacturing sector in the world's second biggest economy contracted in March, in its worst performance in 11 months.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average also struggled for direction as latest US data failed to change expectations about the next move on interest rates.

Germany's Dax and France's Cac 40 were up after new figures indicating the troubled eurozone was gaining momentum with business activity at a near four-year high.

Shares in London's top-flight have forged ahead in recent days, topping the landmark 7,000 figure on Friday, with investors buoyed by the prospect of low interest rates both in the UK and in the US.

The latest inflation figures brought closer a likely fall to negative CPI, appearing to push back any possible rate hike from the Bank of England and coming after the Bank's chief economist Andy Haldane had said that a further cut from 0.5% is as likely as a rise.

Sterling was lower as a result, falling against the euro to just above 1.36. The pound fell by a cent against the US dollar, at just under 1.49.

In stocks, Plumb Center owner Wolseley said it expected underlying group trading profit for its financial year to be in line with expectations after strong demand in the US helped earnings rise 12% in its first half to £390 million.

But bottom line profit before tax fell 67% to £103 million after a £245 million write down on its Nordic business, sending shares down almost 3%, or 112p, to 4098p.

Elsewhere, retailer Game Digital fell almost 6% as it reported a fall in half-year earnings after a tough Christmas prompted a profit warning earlier this year. Game also announced the departure of its finance director Benedict Smith.

Underlying earnings plunged 16% to £43 million for the 26 weeks to January 25, and the group warned that the video games market in the UK had started 2015 "more slowly than expected". The stock fell 15p to 245p.

The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 index were British Airways owner IAG up 21.5p at 613.5p, Persimmon up 41p at 1716p, Coca-Cola HBC up 27p at 1221p and Barratt Developments at 8.5p at 542p.

The biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 index were Associated British Foods down 86p at 2925p, Wolseley down 112p at 4098p, Rio Tinto down 58.5p at 2884p and Glencore down 5.75p at 301.35p.