Shaky morning for FTSE

Mining stocks experienced another rollercoaster ride during an uncertain session for London’s top flight index today.

Record copper prices and a broker upgrade on the sector lifted Xstrata by 4% and Anglo American by 3% as miners recovered weakness earlier in the session.

The rest of the market was in less impressive form, with the FTSE 100 Index giving back early gains of more than 20 points to reach lunchtime 3.9 points lower at 6087.8.

Energy companies provided the main reason for the fall as investors reacted to the price of oil falling below 70 US dollars a barrel.

BG Group stood 22p cheaper at 748p, while Royal Dutch Shell was off 22p at 1932p and BP eased 8p to 676.5p.

Elsewhere, Alliance & Leicester fell by more than 1% as takeover speculation seen prior to the weekend began to fade. Shares were off 16p at 1184p.

While A&L declined, a number of banking stocks were higher after US giant Wachovia agreed to pay $25bn (£13.4bn/€19.6bn) to take over Golden West Financial Corp, sparking speculation that rivals could pursue acquisitions - possibly in the UK.

Those to benefit included HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, which were up 11.5p and a penny to 977.5p and 1838p respectively.

Among other notable fallers was BSkyB as investors got the first chance to react to news after the market closed on Friday that it had secured only one of the second batch of Premier League football rights.

Shares in the broadcaster were 4p lower at 524p as UBS cut its target price and the market reacted to the fact that the remaining two packages went to Irish pay-TV operator Setanta, a growing threat to the dominance of Sky.

Vodafone was also on the slide – off 1.25p to 126.75p – after it moved to cut its European roaming charges by 40% amid pressure from regulators. Vodafone said the average cost to its customers for calls in Europe would fall from more than 61p a minute to less than 37.7p a minute by next April.

For mining stocks, a forecast upgrade from Cazenove ensured Xstrata rose 100p to 2354p and Anglo American by 64p to 2540p, while BHP Billiton added 11.5p to 977.5p and Rio Tinto rose 30p to 3290p. The mood was helped by copper being at an all-time record and gold opening higher in London.