UK stocks : FTSE 100 down 0.6 pct

UK stocks closing: Global growth worries prodded Britain's top share index lower on Wednesday as a failed merger with a French peer hurt shares in defence and aviation firm BAE Systems.

London's blue chip index closed down 33.54 points, or 0.6 percent, at 5,776.71 as volumes on the index remained light as whole, just 88 percent of its already weak 90-day average.

BAE fell 1.4 percent in heavy volume after its $45 billion merger talks with Airbus parent EAD.PA collapsed, and it said it is not looking for a tie-up with another company.

Analysts said the deal had always looked a big ask and that had limited new selling of the company's shares.

This does not come as a surprise ... For BAE Systems, the investment case returns to extracting value in a squeezed operating environment, Brewin Dolphin's equity analyst Ed Salvesen said in a note.

The broader FTSE 100 has traded in a 170-point range since mid-September when the U.S. Federal Reserve joined the European Central Bank in providing a backstop for the market by promising measures to tackle the economic slowdown.

But the boost that gave to broader global sentiment and the euro zone in particular is fading. The International Monetary Fund warned European policymakers late on Tuesday they must to do more and with some urgency to restore sagging confidence in the global financial system.

(Central bank promises of more) bond buying has certainly been one of the chief reasons we have seen risk on, Atif Latif, director of trading equities and derivatives at Guardian Stockbroker said. On the back of poor economic data we see no reason in the short term to be bullish on the market.

A struggling global economy has left companies struggling to raise profits and the start of the third-quarter results season confirmed that picture.

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