LONDON (ShareCast) - Mining stocks were again bearing the brunt of the market-wide sell-off on Monday on concerns over slowing growth in China after Goldman Sachs cut its growth forecasts for the powerhouse for this year and the next. Vedanta, Antofagasta, Glencore Xstrata and Anglo American were all registering moderate losses in afternoon trade, tracking commodities prices lower.

Rio Tinto, meanwhile underwhelmed this morning with the decision to keep hold of its diamonds business, saying that market fundamentals remain robust with growing demand for luxury goods in Asia and continued strong demand in the US.

However, ENRC was bucking the trend today despite receiving a lower takeover offer from its founding shareholders of around £3.0bn, under the previous £3.3bn proposal last month. Director Mohsen Khalil said that the board is “very disappointed by the value of the offer, which it believes materially undervalues ENRC, its fundamentals, the intrinsic value of its underlying assets and its growth prospects”.

Banking stocks were also under pressure this morning with Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC and StanChart trading in the red. RBS however was making gains after its rating was upgraded by Investec from 'sell' to 'hold'.

Severn Trent, which was recently the target of a takeover bid from an international consortium, was performing well today, rebounding after a +20% fall over the last month following the withdrawal of an offer. Utilities peers United Utilities and SSE were also higher.

Vodafone was subdued after confirming its intention to acquire Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s biggest cable company, for more than £8.5bn.

Supermarket peers Sainsbury and Morrison were under the weather today after Citigroup downgraded its ratings on the stocks to 'sell' and 'neutral', respectively. Tesco, which the broker already rates it as a 'sell', was also down.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,643.00p +1.80%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,646.00p +1.04%
G4S (GFS) 234.30p +0.99%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 654.50p +0.85%
Capita (CPI) 951.50p +0.85%
Serco Group (SRP) 589.50p +0.60%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 218.10p +0.55%
Kingfisher (KGF) 334.30p +0.54%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 784.50p +0.26%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 282.40p +0.25%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,043.00p -4.92%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,275.00p -4.17%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,408.00p -3.76%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 350.70p -3.71%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 252.50p -3.15%
Hammerson (HMSO) 471.90p -3.10%
ITV (ITV) 133.40p -2.91%
Standard Life (SL.) 342.60p -2.84%
Wolseley (WOS) 2,941.00p -2.74%
British Land Co (BLND) 556.00p -2.71%

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