London close: Footsie plunges after Wall Street reversal

A sharp reversal in US stocks' fortunes ensured Footsie finished deep in the red after abruptly giving up an attempt to climb into positive territory. Miners were weak on lower metals prices, with Kazakh pair ENRC and Kazakhmys among the worst hit. Lower metals prices also hurt the likes of Antofagasta, Anglo American, Lonmin, Vedanta and Xstrata. In the banking sector the part-nationalised pair Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking suffered after the publication of the Top 50 rankings of the world's safest banks by American magazine Global Magazine. Lloyds was ranked sixth in the league of safe banks in last year's report but has now dropped out of the top 50.Reports that it is contemplating a £600m rights issue drag down insurance giant RSA. Drug group AstraZeneca just managed to hold onto gains after saying it is to press ahead with plans to submit its ticagrelor drug, Brilinta, for regulatory approval in the fourth quarter of 2009 after positive results from a major trial.The company hailed results from a trial which showed ticagrelor reduced cardiovascular death and heart attacks over clopidogrel in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) patients.Fellow drugs group Shire also finished in the blue by a whisker after saying it has completed a new drug application (NDA) for velaglucerase alfa, its enzyme replacement therapy in development for the treatment of Type 1 Gaucher disease, with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The submission to the FDA has been made ahead of schedule.Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered has agreed to sell its entire 14.85% stake in BC Card to Korean private equity firm Vogo Fund and its affiliates. Vogo is buying Standard's stake and also the 15.83% stake in BC Card held by Hana Bank for around $155.6m in total.Self-storage operator Safestore saw an increasing level of enquiries for new lets in the three months to end-July. Activity picked up noticeably in July, the company said. Revenue for the nine months to 31 July 2009 rose by 1.7% from the corresponding period of last year.Support services group Serco today announced it has won three UK government contracts worth between £400m and £500m to help unemployed workers find a job.Majestic Wine, the Aim-listed wine retailer, has changed a major plank of its business strategy by reducing the minimum in-store purchase to six bottles from twelve.FTSE 100 - RisersReckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 2,880.00p +0.95%Diageo (DGE) 962.50p +0.89%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,311.00p +0.77%British American Tobacco (BATS) 1,888.00p +0.75%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,856.00p +0.56%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,215.00p +0.50%Pearson (PSON) 754.50p +0.33%G4S (GFS) 223.90p +0.22%BAE Systems (BA.) 312.70p +0.16%Smiths Group (SMIN) 803.00p +0.12%FTSE 100 - FallersEurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 805.00p -6.94%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,698.00p -5.25%Lonmin (LMI) 1,389.00p -4.93%Anglo American (AAL) 1,922.00p -4.90%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 106.01p -4.79%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 124.40p -4.75%Man Group (EMG) 257.40p -4.31%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 643.90p -4.20%Xstrata (XTA) 793.00p -4.05%Antofagasta (ANTO) 735.50p -4.04%FTSE 250 - RisersInchcape (INCH) 28.79p +3.75%Restaurant Group (RTN) 197.50p +3.40%Game Group (GMG) 168.50p +2.74%HMV Group (HMV) 120.00p +2.13%Davis Service Group (DVSG) 402.20p +2.08%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 248.00p +2.06%Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 87.00p +2.05%Telecity Group (TCY) 345.70p +1.68%National Express Group (NEX) 405.00p +1.66%Eaga (EAGA) 130.70p +1.48%FTSE 250 - FallersAshmore Group (ASHM) 217.00p -9.21%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 48.00p -8.05%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 190.00p -7.90%Shaftesbury (SHB) 350.00p -7.65%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,425.00p -6.77%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 229.40p -6.67%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 145.80p -6.48%Soco International (SIA) 1,233.00p -6.09%Dunelm (DNLM) 273.60p -6.04%Peter Hambro Mining (POG) 725.00p -6.03%