FTSE 100 close: Lonmin, Randgold, Vedanta up
Commodity stocks occupied all the top slots on the Footsie leaderboard today, but were offset in the index by falling oil stocks.
Mining shares took their lead from Asian markets overnight, where economic worries steadied. Gold miner Randgold Resources was high on the leaderboard as the precious metal hit three-month highs near $1000 an ounce.
Randgold added 9% or 333p to 4,022p, closely followed by silver miner Fresnillo and Lonmin - up 52p to 655p and 81p to 1,442p respectively.
But overall investors were in cautious mood, and depressed oil stocks kept a lid on the FTSE 100, which closed 20.8 points lower at 4,796.7.
Activity in Britain's services sector grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years in August with the UK services PMI rising to 54.1, above the 53.9 forecast in a Reuters poll.
But it is US unemployment figures out tomorrow that could offer a new direction for the market. By late afternoon the Dow Jones index on Wall Street had crept 24.6 points higher to 9,305.3.
'There are one or two factors are trying to drag the market better but the sentiment is we will go into the fourth quarter with investors still looking to move down the risk profile,' said Stephen Pope, chief global strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Barclays lost 7.75p to 351.3p as investors fled from risk. Among the fallers was also Guinness drinks giant Diageo lost 15.5p to 953p after French rival Pernod Ricard warned of a tough year ahead for the industry.
Oil majors were down, with Royal Dutch Shell 'B' shares 21p off at 1,652p and BP 5.2p down at 536.45p.
Despite a lack of fireworks in the top flight, transport firm National Express soared 53.9p to 465.9p or 13% in the FTSE 250 after its largest shareholder - the Spanish Cosmen family - unveiled an improved £765m final offer.
Recruitment firm Hays was down 1.75p to 98.05p, after reporting a 43% fall in full-year profits. Panmure Gordon stockbrokers said the figures were below expectations and cut its profits forecast for 2010 from £110m to £75m.
Results from transport group Go-Ahead were more warmly received, with shares up 68p to 1,371p after the company said robust trading in its bus division helped offset faltering revenues growth in rail.
Elsewhere, shares in music and games retailer HMV were 3.2p lower at 111.5p following a steady trading update and a £7m deal to take a 50% stake in 7digital, which will become the group's e-commerce platform.
Housebuilder Bovis lost 11.5p to 497p as analysts backed a placing of up to 12 million new shares in order to raise £60m towards possible cut-price land acquisitions. Panmure Gordon stockbrokers described the move as 'wholly sensible'.
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