FTSE 100 movers: Miners dragging index down

23rd May 2012 15:46

The blue-chip miners were dominating the fallers list on the Footsie by midday as metals prices dropped on concerns that the Chinese economy may be affected greatly by Greece leaving the euro: investment bank China International Capital Corp said today that the world's second-largest economy could see its lowest levels of growth in more than two decades in this scenario. Mining peers Vedanta Resources, Xstrata, Glencore, Kazakhmys, Fresnillo, Rio Tinto, Polymetal and Antogasta were suffering heavy losses. Defence, security and aerospace group BAE Systems was falling despite the fact it was awarded a significant contract to support the future aircrew training requirements of the Royal Saudi Air Force by the Saudi British Defence Co-operation programme. The £1.6bn deal follows an agreement between the governments of both the UK and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There were just a handful of risers on the FTSE 100; British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) was one of them after the Competition Commission announced that it was no longer concerned that 'Sky Movies' has an unfair advantage over its competitors. FTSE 100 - RisersSmith & Nephew (SN.) 595.00p +0.51%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 693.00p +0.36%National Grid (NG.) 670.50p +0.15%FTSE 100 - FallersVedanta Resources (VED) 951.50p -9.12%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 684.00p -7.25%Man Group (EMG) 73.15p -5.80%Glencore International (GLEN) 341.00p -5.70%Xstrata (XTA) 919.60p -5.48%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,312.00p -5.41%Polymetal International (POLY) 795.50p -5.24%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,792.00p -4.92%Aviva (AV.) 264.50p -4.92%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,027.00p -4.55%NR