Britain's leading share index closed lower on Monday, dipping under 6,100 points, with financial stocks including Prudential falling and several miners retreating after touching all-time peaks.
But telecoms firm BT bucked the broad weaker trend to rise on easing pension worries and bid speculation. The FTSE 100 share index closed 34 points, or 0.6 percent, lower at 6,098.7, slipping from Friday's five-year closing high and tracking weaker US stock markets, although many analysts remain bullish.
"It is a bull market," said Jim Wood-Smith, head of research at stockbroker Christows. "If you get days or weeks when the market falls in a bull market, it just means that buyers are going to come in stronger."
"We have gone through 6,000, we have gone through 6,100 and the next stop is 6,200. You would not actually bet against it hitting a new high some time this year."
Banks and insurers accounted for much of the FTSE's decline, with dealers and analysts saying a combination of broadly weaker global financial markets, rising bond yields and fading bid speculation dragging on the sectors.
Insurer Prudential, which rejected a 17 billion pound bid from rival Aviva last month, fell 3 percent to 637-1/2 pence.
Dealers said the stock was also under pressure as Morgan Stanley placed 22.5 million of its shares at 642 p - accounting for about 1 percent of Prudential's issue.
Bank Alliance & Leicester shed 2.3 percent, with dealers citing less interest in bid talk that sent its shares to record highs last month.
Shares in Britain's biggest fixed-line telecoms operator BT rose 2.1 percent lifted by news that its pension scheme actuary estimated that a state guarantee covered about three-quarters of the scheme's liabilities.
Dealers said hopes for further consolidation in the industry had risen following news that German state development bank KfW agreed to sell a 4.5 percent stake in Deutsche Telekom to US private equity firm Blackstone.
"If private equity is taking a stake in a fixed-line business it shows people think there is good value there," said a dealer. But support from heavyweight oil and gas producers such as BP faded as the sector trimmed strong early gains after oil slipped from record highs.
Several miners such as Antofagasta also gave up much of their early push to record peaks as metals prices traded off multi-year highs.
Xstrata finished 2 percent higher, having earlier traded nearly 5 percent up at a high of 2,182p. Antofagasta ended 0.5 percent lower after a rush to a record peak of 2,519p and BHP Billiton also slipped into negative territory after touching an all-time high at 1,212p.
Anglo American closed flat at 2,461p, having earlier hit a 2,527p peak.
Some analysts have started to express concern about just how quickly and far metals prices, and miners, have risen in recent months.
"There is certainly a full-blown commodity bubble," said Christows' Wood-Smith. "You have just got to look at the prices of all the small miners and exploration stocks."
Elsewhere, M&A and disposal hopes fuelled several mid-caps, with music group EMI up 5.7 percent after The Sunday Times said it was preparing to resume talks with US rival Warner Music Group that could lead to the creation of the world's third-biggest music company.
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