Next Share News (NXT)

Markets were choppy on Monday with early gains on the FTSE 100 being erased by the end of trade as traders reacted to mixed newsflow from Asia and Europe.Even a strong performance in the heavyweight mining sector wasn't enough to push the London benchmark into positive territory today, with Financial Sales Trader Max Cohen from Spreadex pointing out that the index failed to break through resistance levels, "indicating a fading conviction amongst buyers".Cohen said: "Technical traders have been spooked by a lack of appetite from the bulls with many seeing current market conditions as an opportunity to take profits. The FTSE is up around 12% year-to-date but has struggled to make much headway since the start of August as investors fret about a possible reduction of British and US monetary stimulus in the coming months."Rumours of stimulus measures from top consumer China sparked some strong gains in the mining sector on Monday as stocks extended gains following last week's upbeat economic data from the Asian powerhouse. Traders were reacting to a report from the South China Morning Post (SCNP) which suggested that Beijing is "quietly offering financial stimulus" to certain cities and provinces in an attempt to buoy growth, as opposed to giving out nationwide help. In other news, the China Gold Association said that gold consumption reached 706.36 metric tons in the first half of 2013, up 54% year-on-year as falling prices attracted buyers. The country is expected to overtake India as the world's top bullion consumer later this year.Miners seemed to be shrugging off disappointing data from Japan released overnight which showed that growth in the world's third-largest economy slowed down from 3.8% in the first quarter to just 2.6% in the second.Senior Market Analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets said: "it is more likely that today's declines are a result of a general lack of enthusiasm by investors, combined with some concern about the prospect of a third Greek bailout, after weekend reports about a Bundesbank document outlining just such a prospect, doing the rounds."FTSE 100: Miners, Prudential provide a liftPrecious metals peers Fresnillo and Randgold were high risers today on the back of stimulus hopes in China and rising commodity prices - gold and silver futures on COMEX were up 2.2% and 4.6% in New York this afternoon, respectively. Sector peers Anglo American, Vedanta Resources, Antofagasta, ENRC and Glencore Xstrata followed closely behind.Insurer Prudential was also on the up after releasing its first-half results which came out mid-morning. Headline IFRS operating profit came in at £1,415m, up 22% year-on-year and 6.0% ahead of consensus estimates.RBS was making gains after comments from Business Secretary Vince Cable who said that the sell-off of the government's 81% stake was unlikely for another five years. Part-nationalised peer Lloyds was also higher.Tesco and Next were out of favour today after the Labour Party raised concerns over how the companies utilise cheap labour from migrant workers.Outsourcing giant Capita was in the red after Citigroup downgraded its rating on the stock from 'buy' to 'neutral', saying it no longer sees significant re-rating potential after a strong performance since the start of the year.FTSE 250: SVG Capital surges after jump in H1 NAVSVG Capital, the private equity investor, was a high riser today on the FTSE 250 after seeing net asset value jump by 23% in its first half, substantially outperforming its benchmarks, as profits more than doubled. High Street bookie Ladbrokes was being weighed down by a ratings cut from JPMorgan Cazenove to 'underweight', with the broker highlighting weakness in UK Retail and risks to short-term consensus estimates. The same broker also downgrade Moneysupermarket.com to 'neutral' today.Mining stocks were tracking their blue-chip counterparts higher today with African Barrick Gold, EVRAZ and Centamin registering impressive gains by the close.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,103.00p +6.57%Prudential (PRU) 1,232.00p +4.05%G4S (GFS) 244.10p +3.65%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,841.00p +2.52%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,266.00p +1.93%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 233.30p +1.92%Antofagasta (ANTO) 958.00p +1.70%Anglo American (AAL) 1,567.50p +1.62%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,612.50p +1.61%Standard Life (SL.) 370.00p +1.37%FTSE 100 - FallerseasyJet (EZJ) 1,328.00p -3.56%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 312.20p -3.49%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 1,571.00p -2.66%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,157.00p -2.28%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,176.00p -2.08%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,636.00p -1.92%Next (NXT) 4,855.00p -1.60%Centrica (CNA) 385.20p -1.58%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 382.00p -1.52%Reed Elsevier (REL) 814.00p -1.51%FTSE 250 - RisersAfrican Barrick Gold (ABG) 150.70p +17.19%Evraz (EVR) 117.20p +12.15%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 37.44p +7.74%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 303.10p +6.35%SVG Capital (SVI) 408.30p +4.67%FirstGroup (FGP) 114.60p +3.43%PayPoint (PAY) 1,130.00p +2.82%Computacenter (CCC) 522.00p +2.76%Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 96.00p +2.45%BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 490.00p +2.42%FTSE 250 - FallersTed Baker (TED) 1,825.00p -4.50%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 271.10p -4.20%Man Group (EMG) 88.65p -4.11%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 178.20p -3.78%Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 468.80p -3.34%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,500.00p -3.16%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 232.30p -2.88%Xaar (XAR) 851.00p -2.74%Ladbrokes (LAD) 193.90p -2.61%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 43.47p -2.51%BC