FTSE stumbles on

The London market stuttered forward today despite losses by a string of blue chip mining stocks.

The FTSE 100 Index gained 7.6 points to stand at 5884.8 by mid-morning even though all eight top flight miners drifted into the red.

The sector was hit by weak commodity prices which has seen gold and copper fall from recent highs – threatening mining firms’ profits.

Lonmin was the heaviest fall with losses of 3% or 75p to 2638p and it was followed down by Rio Tinto, which was 57p lower at 2464p and Kazakhmys, off 26p to 1217p.

Oil stocks also faced uncertainty as the price of a barrel of crude remained around the $63 mark. Shell gained 3p to 1792p but BP was down 3p to 581.5p after a report suggested shareholders were seeking assurance that recent incidents with the oil giant’s safety record are not symptomatic of a bigger problem.

But financial stocks were on the up with Standard Chartered 21p higher at 1346p after UBS upgraded it to buy from neutral and lifted its price target to 1550p.

The rest of the sector benefited from the lift with Halifax and Bank of Scotland owner HBOS up 20p at 1033.5p and Northern Rock 18.5p better off at 1154.5p.

And supermarket Morrison also found cheer with a lift of 2.25p to 228.5p following an upgrade from Societe Generale.

Rolls-Royce gained 2.5p to 444.5p after it said a deal to supply Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines with engines for a new fleet of plans could be worth more than $500m (€394m).

But in the second tier infrastructure specialist John Laing lost 4% or 12.25p to 318.75p as investors banked profits after huge gains yesterday following news of an approach from a mystery suitor.