London open: Miners lead decline

London's top stocks started the week on a weak note with miners leading the fallers in early trading Monday morning.

Xstrata is the worst performer, closely followed by Kazakhmys, Vedanta Resources, Antofagasta, Anglo American, Lonmin and Old Mutual.

Fresnillo is also down after the silver miner saw revenue slide in the first half of 2009 by 10.7% from a year earlier to $378.9m, as the realised silver price over the period dropped 21.9% to $13.92. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation eased 4.1% to $203.4m.

Pre-tax profit halved at Michael Page in the first half, but the recruitment firm said the rate of decline in the UK and the Asia Pacific region has slowed. The group also said that it will continue to 'adjust' its headcount in response to market conditions. In the last twelve months Michael Page cut staff by a third, largely through natural attrition.

Shaftesbury warned that demand for offices continues to fall, though the London's West End-focused property firm said demand for retail, restaurant and residential accommodation continues to be healthy.

Investment trust Witan narrowed pre-tax losses to £8.77m in the six month ended 30 June compared with a loss of £139.32m last time.

Oil and gas exploration and production firm Hardy Oil & Gas reported a first half pre-tax loss of $5.4m compared with a profit of $9.7m the year before.

Aberdeen-based Venture Production today announced the discovery of gas on trend with the producing Bains field and 10 kilometres north east of the Morecambe South production complex in the East Irish Sea.

Speciality pharmaceuticals company BTG is to receive a $7m milestone payment from one of its partners.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Alliance Trust (ATST) 290.70p +1.08%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 523.00p +0.77%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 2,763.00p +0.62%
Schroders NV (SDRC) 846.00p +0.48%
Rexam (REX) 257.60p +0.47%
Capita Group (CPI) 653.50p +0.38%
G4S (GFS) 214.30p +0.28%
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,128.00p +0.27%
Centrica (CNA) 220.20p +0.27%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 429.30p +0.23%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Xstrata (XTA) 754.50p -3.89%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 867.00p -3.40%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,736.00p -3.34%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 718.50p -3.23%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 44.70p -3.14%
British Land Co (BLND) 497.00p -3.02%
Fresnillo (FRES) 552.00p -2.99%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,872.50p -2.85%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,405.00p -2.77%
Old Mutual (OML) 87.95p -2.76%