The London equities markets fell significantly on Thursday.
The FTSE 100 was 3.15 percent lower on the session, to 6,251.2, while the FTSE 250 dropped 3.35 percent to 11,033.4.
Insurers were in focus, as companies in the sector provided both the best and worst performances on the 100.
On the winning side, Resolution (LSE: REL) added 2.84 percent to 633.5p, while Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) fell 8.24 percent to 138.1p.
The decline for Legal & General came after it reported that margins had fallen to 3.6 percent and that its non-life unit had lost £38 million on household claims due to flooding.
L&G also disappointed when it announced a share buyback program worth £1 billion, much less than had been anticipated by analysts.
Also in the insurance sector, Friends Provident was down 6.65 percent to 181.2p as UBS (NYSE: UBS; SWX: UBSN; TYO: 8657) cut its recommendation from “buy” to “neutral”.
Other sectors seeing declines on the 100 included hotels operators, as Intercontinental Hotels (LSE: IHG; NYSE: IHG) fell 7.34 percent to £11.11.
In the telecommunications sector, Vodafone (LSE: VOD; NYSE: VOD; FWB: VOD) dropped 7.23 percent to 145p.
Airplane engine manufacturer Rolls Royce (LSE: RR) fell 6.46 percent to 496.25p after it reported that profits in the first half were down by 51 percent, affected by the weakness of the US dollar.
The biggest loser on the 250 was retailer GAME group (LSE: EBQ), with a drop of 7.22 percent to 176.75p.