At closing, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 44.98 points, or 0.7%, at 6,371.18.
Aerospace firm Rolls-Royce led the downward trend, shedding 4.2% after media reports of an inquiry into the EU's airline maintenance market.
However, British Airways owner IAG rose 1.19% on a broker upgrade.
Mining giant Glencore began the session as the 100-share index's biggest gainer after it said it had started the sales process for two of its copper mines.
Shares in Glencore initially jumped 1.55% on the news that the mines, in Australia and Chile, were up for sale, but at close, they were down 6.2%.
Glencore is attempting to reduce $30bn (£19.5bn) of debt created by its 2013 takeover of Xstrata.
Against the dollar, the pound was 0.22% higher at $1.5350 and gained 0.19% against the euro to €1.3500.

The screenwriter died surrounded by his family in California on Monday after several weeks of hospice care.
His widow Rita Hudis said in a statement: "He died peacefully at home with myself and Stephen and Kevin, his two sons.
"He did well to reach 93. We will miss him. Our 60th anniversary would have been on the 28 April."
Hudis was born in London and began his career as a journalist before writing for stage and screen.
He wrote the first Carry On film, 1958's Carry On Sergeant, when he was 34.  The cast included future Doctor Who actor William Hartnell, Bob Monkhouse, Charles Hawtrey, Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques.
Hudis went on to pen Carry On Nurse, Teacher, Constable, Regardless and Cruising - the first Carry On film in colour.
Carry On films - the Norman Hudis years
Carry On Sergeant - 1958
Carry On Nurse - 1959
Carry On Teacher - 1959
Carry On Constable - 1960
Carry On Regardless - 1961
Carry On Cruising - 1962
Carry On Nurse was inspired by stories from his wife, a former nurse. In a BBC interview in 2008, Hudis said: "I used to call downstairs to Rita and say 'put on the old nurse's cap and tell me something funny'."
In 2008, Hudis published an autobiography titled No Laughing Matter: How I Carried On.
In it, he revealed that he continued to write Carry Ons after he left the series in the early 1960s in the hope that he might be asked back one day, drafting Carry On Under the Pier If Wet and Carry On Shylock Holmes.
After moving to the US, his TV writing credits include The Wild Wild West, The Man From UNCLE and Hawaii Five-O.
Morris Bright, chairman of Elstree Studios and a close family friend, said: "Without him we wouldn't have had the Carry On films, because he wrote the first six - and look what that spawned over the years.
"We owe the man a lot. He leaves a great legacy of joy, entertainment and laughter - something we can look back on and say, 'We're very grateful for him'.
"He was a great guy, I shall miss him a great deal."
Hudis is survived by his widow, two sons, and two grandchildren, Veronica and Cameron.
(Close): London's leading shares dipped in Monday morning trading, indicating that an eight-day run of gains might be coming to an end.
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Norman Hudis, best known for writing the first six Carry On films, has died at the age of 93.