Explorers weigh on FTSE

Explorers weighed on the FTSE 100 Index today as shares in London struggled to build on recent gains.

Oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell were hit by the sell off after authorities in the United States revealed stocks of crude have continued to rise in spite of the onset of winter.

And miners were also in negative territory on the back of lower copper prices, sending the Footsie down 9.1 points to 5512 by mid-morning despite a strong performance on Wall Street and in Hong Kong.

Shares in BP fell 3p to 627p and Shell was 14p cheaper at 1859p as the cost of crude oil remained just under 61 US dollars a barrel today. Cairn Energy was also in the red – down 6p to 1892p – while BG group slipped a penny to 551p.

Weak copper prices sent mining stocks onto the blue chip losers’ board, with Rio Tinto off 25p to 2462p, Xstrata 12p lower 1345p, Antofagasta down 14p to 1730p and BHP Billiton 6.5p weaker at 884.5p.

But there was better news for property developers who helped stop the market slipping further into the red. British Land gained 20p to 1023p to stand just below its all-time high of 1044p, while Land Securities moved up 33p to 1643p and Hammerson jumped 16p to 996p.

In the FTSE 250 Index, tour operator MyTravel rose 7% or 13p to 206p after its annual operating profits reached £55.2m (€81.5m). The group said its turnaround plan would have been a year ahead of schedule if oil prices had not been so high.

And Spirent was up 8% or 4p to 54.5p after it agreed to sell is network products division for £289m (€426.6m) in a bid to focus on its core communications arm. Investors were also cheered by news that trading would be in line with expectations.

But the London Stock Exchange fell 6p to 616p after Australian bank Macquarie went hostile with a £1.5bn (€2.2bn) bid that its board has already called “derisory”.

And power station Drax slipped to 491p on its first day of dealings in London after listing at 500p.