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UK stocks opened weaker on Monday during traditionally quiet post-Christmas trading in what was an otherwise strong December. At 0850, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 12.12 points, or 0.2%, at 7.632.78.
The index, however, was still up 3.9% for the month.
Mining company Rio Tinto shed 0.4% to £45.295, even as it started the process of resuming operations at its Richards Bay mineral sands operation in South Africa following security problems.
Production had been halted for around a month following an escalation in violence in the communities surrounding the operation that saw one employee shot and seriously injured.
AstraZeneca fell 0.3% to £77.23, despite the pharmaceutical company and partner Merck announcing that a treatment for pancreatic cancer had been approved for use in the US.
Radio network group CyanConnode soared 49% to 3.14p on the back of news that it had won an order in Thailand worth around $1.6m.
BigDish, which operates a sales management platform for restaurants, sank 17% to 1.25p, as it booked a deeper first-half loss after it wrote down the value of its assets.
Recently-appointed chief executive Tom Sumner said he expected 2020 to be a 'turnaround story' for the company.
Small media technology group Iconic Labs jumped 14% to 0.077p, having announced that chairman David Sefton was resigning at the end of the company's annual general meeting on Monday.
Iconic Labs said that Sefton felt that 'rumour and market speculation' regarding previous employer Anglo African Oil & Gas -- which recently announced plans to become a cash shell after it experienced funding issues -- was having an adverse effect on Iconic Labs.
Fertilizer group Emmerson gained 5.3% to 4p said it was still expecting to deliver a feasibility study for its Khemisset potash project in Morocco in the first half of 2020.