FTSE 100 index trades lower on miners despite gains in Royal Mail’s share price, BAE Systems and Sainsbury’s
The FTSE 100 index was trading lower in early afternoon trading as miners became lighter after gains made yesterday.
The UK's blue-chip index fell 1.58 per cent to 6,040 points, despite a strong jump by Royal Mail.
Royal Mail's share price rose 1.14 per cent to 442.2p, the day after its stock was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" by Cantor Fitzgerald, which said the company has made good progress cutting costs, lifting productivity and introducing new products, according to Interactive Investor.
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BAE Systems also rose 1.7 per cent to 502.25p per share. The company is reported to have received a $400m contract from the Pentagon over the last two days.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury's shares were trading 0.42 per cent down at 241.1p, the day after it was announced the supermarket was mulling over a second bid for Home Retail Group after it came clean about a £1bn unsolicited offer for the Argos and Homebase owner.
However, the positive news wasn't enough to lift the FTSE, with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta and Glencore all falling.
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BHP was trading 5.51 per cent down at 704.65p, while Rio Tinto and Antofagasta were 4.61 per cent down to 1,848.5p and 4.12 per cent down to 428.2p respectively. Glencore fell 4.26 per cent to 84.52p.
And companies with large operations in Asia continued to lose ground. Aberdeen Asset management fell 2.69 per cent down to 267p, while Standard Chartered was 3.68 per cent lower at 512.7p and Burberry was dropped 3.93 per cent to 1,077.5p.