HSBC turned down the hopes for U.K stocks

Britain's benchmark stock index reversed earlier gains to trade flat on Monday, as oil shares tracked rising energy prices, while Europe's biggest bank HSBC after its first-half results.

At 1059 GMT the FTSE 100 was down 1.8 points, or 0.1 percent at 5,352.9. The blue-chip index lost 1.1 percent on Friday and is now over 17 percent lower this year.

HSBC added more than 1 percent before falling 2.3 percent after it said its first-half profit fell 28 percent, in line with forecasts, as a $14 billion hit on bad debts on U.S. home loans and asset writedowns offset strong Asian growth.