London, Aug 21 (IANS): FTSE 100 Index, the British benchmark stock market gauge, dropped by 0.56 percent, or 35.56 points, to 6367.89 points.
Paper producer Mondi's share price dropped by 3 percent on Thursday, topping the losers of the blue chips.
Share prices of Prudential, Taylor Wimpey, Carnival and Hargreaves Lansdown declined by 2.81 percent, 2.70 percent, 2.67 percent and 2.16 percent, respectively, Xinhua reported.
Precious metal miner Randgold Resources led the top gainers of the blue chips with a share price increase of 5.79 percent, followed by Fresnillo (5.63 percent), Anglo American (4.38 percent) , Admiral Group (4.27 percent) and Antofagasta (3.53 percent).
Trading volume in FTSE 100 companies was slightly higher than its 30 day average. The index has gained 0.04 percent so far this year.