Weak start for FTSE

Falling commodity prices sent a string of miners and oil stocks into retreat today as the London market started the week on the back foot.

The mining sector dominated the FTSE 100 Index fallers board as the price of copper dipped while oil majors BP and Shell were also down as crude eased.

The gloom spread to the wider market in London as the Footsie fell 42.2 points to 5837.1 by mid-morning.

BHP Billiton topped the fallers board with a loss of 42p to 940p or 4% and it was followed down by rivals Rio Tinto – off 102p to 2570p – Kazakhmys – 48p lower to 1238p – and Vedanta Resources, which was down 49p at 1272.

The weak price of crude hurt heavyweight oil stocks BP and Royal Dutch Shell which were down 6p to 585p and 30p to 1822p respectively.

But there was better news for mobile phone giant Vodafone which gained a penny to 114.5p after it announced a tie-up with BT to provide broadband internet connections to its 16.2 million UK customers.

And energy suppliers Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy was also on the front foot after reports said the pair had held talks over a possible £20bn (€29bn) tartan tie-up. Scottish Power was up 3p to 632.5p while SSE gained 9p to 1247p.

In the FTSE 250 Index, casinos operator Stanley Leisure was up 18.5p to 873.5p after it agreed to be taken over by Malaysian gaming giant Genting International for £639m (€937m) or 860p a share.

But it was a disappointing session for Forth Ports after a warning over its second half performance overshadowed a 19% rise in half-year pre-tax profits. Shares in Forth dipped 5% or 86p to 1759p today.

Online gaming firm Sportingbet was also on the slide with its shares down 38% or 91p to 148p as it resumed trading following the arrest of its chairman in the United States under gambling laws.