Financial News

LONDON (ShareCast) - 1131: Fallers now outnumber risers by almost two to one among Footsie (news) constituents but the fall on the bluechip is still only a modest 8 points. Retailers such as Home Retail (LSE: HOME.L - news) and Kingfisher (LSE: KGF.L - news) are on the slide after UK retail sales unexpectedly fell in May. FTSE 100 is down 8 at 4,270.

1040: The FTSE 100 is down 6 at 4,272, with InterContinental Hotels and Rexam (LSE: REX.L - news) leading the fallers. Banks, including Lloyds, Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN.L - news) and Royal Bank, are better, but heavyweight miners are mixed. Xstrata (LSE: XTA.L - news) is doing well as both Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS - news) and Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) upgraded the shares.

0927: Leading shares are mixed after opening higher. Hedge fund manager Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) leads the risers while product ester Intertek is the worst performer. FTSE 100 is up 3 at 4,281.

0821: Miners and banking shares are leading London's top stocks higher in early dealings following recent heavy falls. In the mining sector, Xstrata is the strongest performer, closely followed by Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ.L - news) , Fresnillo (LSE: FRES.L - news) and Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO.L - news) . Banks are also in demand, with both Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) and Lloyds Banking (LSE: LLOY.L - news) going well. In corporate news, dairy Milk chocolate maker Cadbury (Munich: A0NJP5 - news) has left its revenue growth guidance for the full-year unchanged and said it has built on its good first quarter with improved trading in April and May. FTSE 100 is up 12 points at 4,290.