London close: Miners, banks unwanted as Footsie falls 1.6%

Despite finishing over 1% down, the FTSE 100 managed to pull back slightly despite a broad sell-off across Europe and a mixed start on Wall Street.Concerns over Europe's sovereign debt crisis were escalated today on speculation that Greece is headed for a default. Meanwhile, Greece's prime minister George Papandreu, saying "We will advance to the big changes and assume all the necessary decisions." On Sunday, Greece announced a new property tax for the next two years in order to raise the €2bn need to cover budget shortfalls.In France, rumours that Moody's could downgrade its ratings for several French banks sent the banking sector falling. The ratings agency cited their levels of exposure they have to Greek sovereign debt.Leading the fallers on the Footsie were the miners, tracking metals prices lower, which fell on the back of demand concerns fueled by ongoing problems in the Eurozone. By the close, copper, gold and silver prices were 0.8%, 1.3% and 1.9% lower, respectively. Fresnillo was the worst hit, falling over 7% by the end of the the day.After swinging between gains and losses, the banks mainly finished in the red on the day that the government-appointed Independent Commission on Banking said British banks should separate their retail banking and investment banking divisions, adding that they should be given more than seven years to implement such reforms. Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and RBS all suffered falls of at least 1%.HSBC was the worst performer out of the lot on reports that it has launched the sale of its non-life insurance business.B&Q owner Kingfisher was among the few risers on the Footsie on reports that it plans to open nine new stores in Russia in a move to cash in on the recent trend among the country's middle class for DIY home improvement.Shares in FTSE 250 engineer Charter International jumped after it revealed that Colfax, the US manufacturing group that was earlier this month named as a mystery bidder for Charter, is considering making a 910p-a-share offer. Shares in wealth management group St James's Place dropped following the company's announcement that it would continue its scrip dividend mandate scheme, with scrip dividends replacing interim cash dividends for the year ending 31 December 2011. In other news, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) scaled back its world oil demand forecasts for 2011 and 2012 by 150,000 and 40,000, respectively, due to reduced global economic growth.BCFTSE 100 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 227.10p +5.04%ARM Holdings (ARM) 590.00p +1.64%Inmarsat (ISAT) 476.60p +1.47%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,334.00p +0.72%Carnival (CCL) 1,931.00p +0.31%Kingfisher (KGF) 232.80p +0.30%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 315.00p +0.16%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 1,989.00p -7.49%3i Group (III) 188.40p -4.61%Aviva (AV.) 289.20p -4.46%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 235.30p -4.39%Schroders (SDR) 1,328.00p -4.05%Essar Energy (ESSR) 241.50p -3.78%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 275.60p -3.54%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 622.50p -3.49%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,068.00p -3.44%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,321.00p -3.44%