Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

London's six-day rally ended Monday after banks were sold on fundraising talks and as miners retreated on weaker metal prices.Part-nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was the biggest faller on reports it is mulling a share issue of between £3-4bn to reduce its dependence on the UK government's toxic asset protection scheme (APS). Lloyds confirmed last week that it too wants to reduce its participation in the scheme, but its plans were a lot more grandiose than RBS's and aimed at completely freeing it of the government's grasp. In contrast, all RBS seems to want to do is keep the government's stake at around 70% after participation in the APS.Though lower, the leading index, which has jumped 3.7% since 10 September, did close well off its worst levels down near 5,110.Miners made a weaker finish inevitable. Randgold, Xstrata, Kazakhmys, Vedanta and Rio Tinto all ended in the red. Even Antofagasta fell despite a positive note from Goldman Sachs. The US investment bank has upgraded Fags from 'neutral' to 'buy'. It has also turned more bullish on Kazakhmys, but Citigroup cut the stock from 'buy' to 'hold'. Citi likes the look of ENRC, however, and lifted it to 'buy' from 'hold'.Investors have pocketed a tidy profit from last week's good run at Tullow Oil, prompted by two big oil discoveries. Sector peer BG Group, which announced its own big oil discovery last week, is also on the slide and is now trading lower than it was before it announced a huge find in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil.Punch Taverns has bought back another tranche of convertible debt due for redemption next year, reducing the amount outstanding to just over £100m. The pub owner has bought a total of 33.9% of the original nominal value of the 5% convertible bonds due 2010. The bonds will be cancelled.Land Securities has sold its one third ownership of the famous Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham to the Future Fund, an investment fund for the Australian Government, for £210m. ITV is down as the tough negotiations over the appointment of Tony Ball as its new chief executive continue. ITV are balking at the former BSkyB man's reported £30m pay package demand.Northern Foods, the company behind Goodfella's pizza and Fox's biscuits, has announced that Andrew Booker is to stand down as finance director. He is to be replaced by Simon Herrick, who is currently finance director of Comet owner Kesa Electricals. Booker will remain as finance director until December 31.Oil and gas firm Soco said the Vietnamese government has approved the development plan for the Te Giac Trang (TGT) field. First Oil from the TGT Field is targeted for mid-2011 and tenders for a number of long lead items are already under evaluation. A contract for the floating, production, storage and offloading vessel is currently being finalised, it added.Wellstream, which designs and manufactures equipment for the oil and gas industry, is lower after it said chief executive Gordon Chapman isn't expected to return until 15 January 2010. It has appointed Alasdair MacDonald as a director and acting chief executive officer while Gordon Chapman recovers from surgery. Plastics Capital rallied more than a third after claiming it's seen some 'initial signs' of recovery in its markets, mostly from developing markets in Asia Pacific, and to a lesser extent North America. 'All businesses are trading satisfactorily and have excellent potential for profitable growth as the global economy emerges from recession,' it said. PetroNeft Resources also found friends on news it is raising $27.5m from a placing with international institutional investors at 14p a share. It is targeting commercial oil production commencing in the third quarter of 2010.FTSE 100 - RisersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 375.90p +2.01%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,830.00p +1.80%TUI Travel (TT.) 269.80p +1.50%Inmarsat (ISAT) 552.00p +1.38%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,817.00p +1.17%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 566.00p +1.16%Kingfisher (KGF) 214.10p +1.13%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,166.00p +1.13%Bunzl (BNZL) 625.50p +0.89%Unilever (ULVR) 1,720.00p +0.88%FTSE 100 - FallersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 53.35p -5.24%Vodafone Group (VOD) 134.05p -4.52%BT Group (BT.A) 133.50p -4.27%Wolseley (WOS) 1,427.00p -4.03%Fresnillo (FRES) 752.50p -3.77%Xstrata (XTA) 929.00p -3.73%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,935.00p -3.73%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,639.00p -3.62%Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,419.00p -3.35%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,696.50p -3.06%FTSE 250 - RisersMicro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 322.50p +6.97%Brit Insurance Holding (BRE) 199.90p +4.66%Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 1,640.00p +4.59%HSBC Infrastructure Company Ltd. (HICL) 115.80p +4.32%Halma (HLMA) 205.40p +3.74%Mitie Group (MTO) 257.20p +3.25%Premier Farnell (PFL) 149.10p +3.04%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 373.00p +3.04%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 309.00p +3.00%Melrose Resources (MRS) 358.40p +2.99%FTSE 250 - FallersJKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 281.40p -5.76%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 328.00p -5.53%Sports Direct International (SPD) 97.50p -5.34%Bodycote (BOY) 171.10p -5.31%AG Barr (BAG) 700.00p -5.21%Mcbride (MCB) 185.90p -5.15%Melrose (MRO) 181.00p -4.74%Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 303.50p -4.56%Arriva (ARI) 510.00p -4.32%Shanks Group (SKS) 100.50p -4.29%