Financial News

LONDON (ShareCast) - 1630: London's leading shares have finished in the red, not getting any help from a mixed start on Wall Street. Miners dominated the fallers with Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED.L - news) , Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ.L - news) , Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO.L - news) , Xstrata (LSE: XTA.L - news) , Eurasian Natural Resource amongst the major sliders. Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) 's was one of the two non mining stocks to perforate the top ten sliders. British telecoms group BT (LSE: BT-A.L - news) continued to rise higher. Yesterday it was given a lift by broker comments, today it announced former chief executive of BSkyB Tony Ball has joined the board as a non-executive director. FTSE 100 fell 50 points to 4278.

1510: London's top stocks are still stuck in the red despite US markets posting slim gains. On this side of the pond, nine out of the top ten blue chip fallers are miners. FTSE 100 is down 42 points at 4,286.

1342: Mining stocks remain the villain of the piece as Footsie (news) remains in the doldrums. Ironically, Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) - though sharply lower - is one of the better performers in the sector despite Cazenove cutting its rating on the stock from 'in-line' to 'underperform'. FTSE 100 is down 48 at 4,280.

1305: After taking a buffeting at the opening the market has stabilised at lower levels. BT Group is better in the wake of yesterday's Digital Britain report, while Shire (LSE: GB00B0KQX869.L - news) is wanted on expectations of higher sales of its Replagal while the Boston plant of Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ - news) , which produces competing product Fabrazyme, is out of operation for at least six weeks. FTSE 100 is down 49 at 4,279.

1045: Top stocks are continuing to delive further lower with sentiment not helped by J Sainsbury's near £450m cash call. The supermarket chain is raising £445m via a placing and offering of convertible bonds to speed up growth and take advantage of the weak property market. In a separate statement, the retailer reported a 7.8% hike in like-for-like sales excluding fuel and VAT for the 12 weeks to 13 June. FTSE 100 down 50 to 4278

0830: Footsie is drifting lower due to a combination of ex-dividends, disappointment with J Sainsbury's cash call and general buyer fatigue. Shire and RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) are the best of the bunch with Lloyds also up. United Utilities (LSE: GB0006462336.L - news) and Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT.L - news) are among those ex-divi today. J Sainsbury is well off the pace. FTSE 100 down 19 at 4,309.