In London, the FTSE 100 dropped 1.28 percent on Monday to 6,644.5 while the FTSE 250 fell 1.18 percent to 11,439.9.
The oil sector was higher on higher prices and on continued tensions between Turkey and Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.
Royal Dutch Shell’s (LSE: RDSA, RDSB; NYSE: RDS.A, RDS.B) B shares added 0.69 percent to £20.55 while it’s A shares gained 0.54 percent to £20.56.
BP (LSE: BP; NYSE: BP; TYO: 5051) was up 0.57 percent to 622.5p while Venture Production (LSE: VPC) jumped 4.29 percent to 766.5p.
The biggest gainer on the 100 was chemicals group Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) added 9.92 percent to £18.40.
On the other hand, the worst performance on the 100 was turned in by Northern Rock (LSE: NRK), which dropped 20.86 percent to 216.25p after saying that while it is talking to several possible bidders, the talks are in an early stage.
Elsewhere in the banking sector, Alliance & Leicester (LSE: AL) was down 5.81 percent to 754p.
Brewer SAB Miller (LSE: SAB) fell 4.72 percent to £14.13 after it said that while volume is up overall, sales have been slow in Latin America.
Over on the 250, the best performer on the day was online auctioneer QXL Ricardo (LSE: QXL), which added 4.58 percent to £12.55.
Holding company Rank Group (LSE: RNK) was the biggest loser of the day on the 250, where it fell 12.20 percent to 109.75p.