London close: Footsie closes lower after China rate hike

Shares fell in the afternoon after a surprise hike in rates in China took investors by surprise and the leading share index finished firmly in the red.The People's Bank of China upped its one-year deposit rate to 2.5% from 2.25%, while the lending rate has been hiked to 5.56% from 5.31%, with effect from Wednesday. It is the first change the authorities in China have made to interest rate policy since 2007.Resource stocks, already having a bad day, were sent further into decline by the news. Xstrata, Vedanta, Fresnillo, Kazakhmys and Randgold are the big fallers in the sector. Anglo American is less affected than most after it confirmed a new greenfield discovery at its West Wall copper project in central Chile. It is the first mineral resource estimate published by Anglo American for West Wall, a 50:50 venture with Xstrata Copper sited 100km northeast of Santiago.Elsewhere in the mining sector Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) has bought Brazil's Mineração Minas Bahia (MIBA) and 51% of Mineração Peixe Bravo (MPB) for up to $304m (£192m) in cash.Falls among the miners has put chip designer ARM's retreat in the shade. The Cambridge-based company's intellectual property is used in a number of Apple products and the share price today has been dented by some notes of caution in Apple's third quarter trading update yesterday evening.Elsewhere in the tech sector Autonomy, the specialist in what it terms "meaning based computing" has pulled out of its recent slump after well received third quarter figures.Autonomy's chief Mike Lynch said growth prospects for the data search software giant remain good. Third quarter profits in the three months to September rose to $57.6m from $48.6m as sales climbed 10% to a record $211m. Underlying operating profits rose by 34% to $86.3m. First half underlying pre-tax profits from Premier Inn and Costa Coffee owner Whitbread were in line with market expectations but the company had a pleasant surprise on the dividend front. Group underlying profit before tax rose by 28.4% to £151.8m in the six months to 2 September from £118.2m in the corresponding period of last year. The interim dividend, which most brokers had expected to be moved up to 10p or a little above has been hiked to 11.25p.A cloud over sportswear retailer Sports Direct International has been lifted as the company indicated that no charges will be brought against it by the Serious Fraud Office. The shares are lower though. Meanwhile, Blacks Leisure, which was once linked with a bid from Sports Direct, soared after saying it is in talks with several potential bidders for the outdoor clothing and equipment retailer.Automotive and aerospace engineer GKN expects a "solid" end to the year after sales in the third quarter jumped 21% and trading profit almost doubled. "The outlook for GKN's markets in the fourth quarter remains positive with group sales expected to be at a similar level to the third quarter," the group said Tuesday. Housebuilder Bellway bounced back into profit and upped its final dividend as the housing market stabilised though the shares dived, taking several sector peers down with them, after it said "buyer confidence slowly ebbed away during the summer" and sales have picked up only slightly recently. Real estate investment trust Land Securities has formed a joint venture with the Canary Wharf Group to develop the so-called "walkie-talkie" property in Fenchurch Street, London. The existing property, currently a cleared site with some ancillary retail neighbouring holdings, has been sold by Land Securities to the 50/50 partnership at a price of £90.2m, in line with the March 2010 valuation.Aerospace and lorry hydraulics group Senior has upped its profits expectations again and now expects to hit the top end of market forecasts this year.FTSE 100 - RisersDiageo (DGE) 1,163.00p +2.47%Whitbread (WTB) 1,728.00p +2.07%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,959.00p +1.98%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,444.00p +1.76%Prudential (PRU) 634.00p +1.68%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 46.95p +1.38%National Grid (NG.) 579.50p +1.31%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,350.00p +1.28%Essar Energy (ESSR) 500.00p +1.21%United Utilities Group (UU.) 590.50p +1.03%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 1,223.00p -5.27%Xstrata (XTA) 1,248.50p -4.37%Man Group (EMG) 259.80p -3.74%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,174.00p -3.51%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,244.00p -3.42%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,948.00p -3.24%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,225.00p -3.04%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,318.00p -3.02%ARM Holdings (ARM) 388.70p -2.61%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 556.50p -2.37%FTSE 250 - RisersJupiter Fund Management (JUP) 285.00p +9.62%Elementis (ELM) 114.00p +7.34%Lamprell (LAM) 384.00p +5.81%Mothercare (MTC) 523.50p +5.33%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 19.35p +5.33%Avis Europe (AVE) 210.00p +4.17%Ocado Group (OCDO) 135.70p +3.27%Savills (SVS) 320.00p +3.23%Premier Foods (PFD) 16.87p +2.99%Cranswick (CWK) 893.50p +2.94%FTSE 250 - FallersXchanging (XCH) 129.60p -6.43%Bellway (BWY) 565.00p -6.07%Babcock International Group (BAB) 564.00p -4.81%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,558.00p -4.59%Persimmon (PSN) 370.00p -4.19%Petropavlovsk (POG) 996.50p -3.81%Redrow (RDW) 116.00p -3.73%Supergroup (SGP) 1,073.00p -3.51%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 25.20p -3.49%Soco International (SIA) 333.60p -3.33%