FTSE comedown continues

Miners topped the blue-chip fallers board today as London investors braced themselves for another lacklustre session on Wall Street.

The FTSE 100 Index stood 50.7 points lower at 5192.7 by lunchtime, as the boost to trading caused by recent strong quarterly results started to fade. The top flight index hit a 13-month high earlier in the week, but has now lost 80 points in the last two sessions.

Pressure on commodity prices meant miners occupied the majority of the places on the fallers board, with Kazakhmys down 4% or 50p at 1238p, Xstrata off 36.5p at 965.5p and Lonmin 60p lower at 1662p.

Mervyn King’s hard-hitting speech to business leaders in Edinburgh cast a shadow over the banking sector after the Bank of England Governor called for banks’ retail functions to be hived off from their more speculative ventures.

Royal Bank of Scotland fell 1.1p at 45.4p and Barclays dropped 5.6p to 358.1p, while Lloyds Banking Group slid 0.7p at 90.6p amid reports that it could be given the all-clear to avoid the UK government’s asset protection scheme.

Engineering firm Smiths Group led the fallers board, down 46.5p to 923p, while BSkyB slipped 22p to 560.5p and Prudential fell 18p to 611.5p.

Supermarket Tesco posted one of the biggest gains after broker Nomura flagged up the chain’s growth potential, particularly in the UK. Tesco shares rose 8.1p to 391.6p, while rival Morrisons added 2.2p to 275.3p and Marks & Spencer gained 0.3p to 346.8p.

Sainsbury’s proved the exception as shares have been inflated in recent days by fresh takeover speculation involving its Qatari shareholders. The stock was off 3.2p at 344.6p.

Other major upward moves were seen by phone group BT, which climbed 0.9p to 136.6p, and from Cable & Wireless after a gain of 2.9p to 142.7p.

Cadbury shares were 2p higher at 800.5p after it turned up the pressure on bid suitor Kraft by raising revenues guidance for the full year.

While the impressive performance merited a bigger gain, investors remained on the sidelines as they awaited Kraft’s next move in the takeover battle.

Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail Group retreated 1.6p to 306.4p after it said it remained cautious about trading prospects in the second half of the year, despite delivering half-year results in line with expectations.

Analysts said Christmas trading would be key in determining whether the company meets full-year forecasts.