Miners weigh on FTSE 100

Thursday, 05 November 2009 12:00

A slump in mining stocks has weighed on the FTSE 100 in early trade, taking the index 1.25 per cent lower by 08:50 GMT to 5,043.80.

Yesterday's rally came to a halt this morning, after a strong start on Wall Street faltered and Asian markets weakened overnight.

The fall was led by engineering firm Invensys, which fell by 8.32 per cent, while Cable & Wireless, which has announced a plan to split, dropped by 6.49 per cent.

Vedanta led miners lower, falling by 5.02 per cent, after blaming a drop in earnings on weaker metals prices.

Lonmin was down by 4.31 per cent, while Xstrata fell by 3.61 per cent.

Retailers avoided falling into the red, with Marks & Spencer up 1.13 per cent on the back of yesterday's gains, followed by Tesco, up 0.4 per cent.

Investors are awaiting the Bank of England's decision on interest rates and quantitative easing, expected at noon.

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