The FTSE-100 Index was down 24.2 points at 5160.8 after an hour's trading, adding to yesterday's fall of 79.7 points.
But investors snapped up shares in Compass, sending the price up 7 per cent or 35p at 505p, after it showed it was shrugging off the economic gloom with a healthy rise in profits and forecasts of further sales growth.
Traders on both sides of the Atlantic were continuing to worry about the global economy and were awaiting tonight's decision by the US Federal Reserve over interest rates.
The Fed is forecast to cut rates by 0.25 per cent - which would be the 11th cut this year.
Among today's fallers on the London Stock Exchange was British Airways, sliding 3 per cent or 6¾p to 221½p, following speculation it was considering a £1 billion rights issue to cut its debt.
Banks were also weighing on the market, with Royal Bank of Scotland down 29p at £15.33; Standard Chartered off 14p at 827p; Abbey National slipping 12p at 960p; and HSBC off 8p at 846p.