Leading shares rallied slightly by midday, with the FTSE 100 supported by top-of-the-range figures from BP Amoco, but trading continued to be overshadowed by the prospect of a sharp fall in Microsoft shares when trading commences in the US.
On Friday, the initial finding in the US anti-trust case against Microsoft was that it had exploited its position in the market and traded unfairly.
At 1200 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was trading down 2.6 points at 6354.3.
BP Amoco shares rose 35 pence to 576p after a clean net income figure of $1.955bn came in at the top end of the range of analysts' expectations.
Rugby Group was most heavily traded stock with close to 90m shares changing hands after a raid by ABN Amro and SBC Warburg on behalf of RMC Group at 137.5p. Rugby rose 15p to 133p, while RMC fell 52p to 858p.
British Airways' second quarter figures were better than expectations and October traffic numbers were reassuring, analysts said, and the stock rose 13p to 343p.
Rentokil gained 8p to 215p after press reports of a possible £700m share buy-back, and Unilever rallied 14p to 480p in the wake of disappointing figures on Friday.
Bid stories were also evident with NatWest up 20p to £14.62 as Royal Bank of Scotland registered its interest in the bank.
And Orange gained 21p to £15.86 as France Telecom said it would be interested in buying the mobile telecoms operator in the event that the Mannesman deal did not go through, or there was a counter-bid for Mannesman.
But most leading stocks were marginally weaker, especially utilities after a JP Morgan downgrade on the sector. United Utilities fell 19p to 580p.
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