FTSE down slightly

The London market slumped into negative territory today in response to a poor opening on Wall Street after more bad news on the US housing market.

The FTSE 100 Index closed 32 points down at 6482, reversing gains made earlier in the day.

Worse-than-expected figures on sales of existing homes in the US caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to sink more than 140 points in the first few hours of trading.

The Footsie followed suit, with miners taking the biggest hit.

Kazakhmys, one of the world's biggest copper producers topped the fallers' board after a disappointing trading statement.

The group lost 7%, or 108p to 1377p, after it revealed that copper production had fallen by 5% in the three months to the end of September following a flood at one of its mines and production problems in Kazakhstan. Sector peer Lonmin dropped 159p to 3250p, while Vedanta Resources also suffered, off 87p at 2063p.

GlaxoSmithKline and Reckitt Benckiser drew a lukewarm reaction from shareholders after posting third quarter figures earlier today.

Pharmaceuticals company GSK fell 11p to 1249p after posting third quarter results following a 7% drop in third quarter profits.

The figures - accompanied by news of job losses and cost cutting - were in line with expectations, but sentiment towards the stock was driven by a Merrill Lynch downgrade for rival AstraZeneca. Shares in AstraZeneca tumbled 49p to 2409p.

Household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser saw a 5% fall, although this was blamed on profit-taking, particularly as the company's figures came in ahead of market expectations.

The stock has risen by 30% in the last year, so investors used the latest figures to realise some recent gains. The stock slipped 140p to 2728p.

A bullish set of half-year results buoyed Argos owner Home Retail Group earlier in the session and helped lift other firms in the retail sector.

Home Retail was up almost 2%, or 6p to 393p, after it said pre-tax profits rose by an expectation-beating 40% as a strong performance at Argos offset weaker trading at Homebase.

Elsewhere in the retail sector, B&Q owner Kingfisher gained 3.1p to 169.4p, Marks & Spencer was ahead 2p at 617.5p and Next advanced 14p to 2069p. However, there was no such benefit for Currys owner DSG International which slipped 3.4p to 117p.

Carphone Warehouse was another of the day's biggest gainers - up 6p at 336.25p - after it announced plans to launch its own mobile phone service using the Vodafone network.

Analysts said this was a positive sign that the relationship between the two firms was far from broken following Vodafone's decision to give the contract to sell its subscriptions to Phones4u last year. Vodafone was 0.8p higher at 178.4p.

Insurer Friends Provident was ahead 2.4p at 175.5p after it pledged to return £1 billion to shareholders next year if its planned merger with Resolution goes ahead.

The biggest Footsie risers were BAE Systems up 16.5p at 507p, Rolls-Royce ahead 13p at 546p, Tullow Oil up 12.5p at 610p and Carphone Warehouse up 6p at 336.25p.

The biggest Footsie fallers were Kazakhmys off 108p at 1377p, Reckitt Benckiser down 140p at 2728p, Lonmin down 159p at 3250p and Vedanta Resources down 87p at 2063p.