London close: Miners drag Footsie into the red

- Miners outweigh financials to drag Footsie lower- Fed expects 'moderate' growth in 2012- Osborne considering 100-year giltsUK stocks finished the day slightly lower on Wednesday despite an earlier rise as steep falls in the mining sector offset a strong performance by the banks and insurers. The FTSE 100 was pulling back slightly after yesterday's surge which saw the blue chip index jump to an eight-month high.The Footsie was stuck in tight channel between 5,975 and 5,980 for the majority of the day, unable to extend earlier gains, but lost around 30 points in the final hour or so to finish in the red.The Federal Reserve said last night that it now expects "moderate economic growth" in 2012, which was being interpreted as better than the previous "modest" expansion in the last such assessment. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said it would maintain exceptionally low interest rates until the end of 2014.The central bank also revealed the results of its banking stress tests, showing the 15 out of its 19 biggest financial institutions passed. These would would be able to maintain capital levels above the minimum requirement in a worst-case scenario. In domestic news, UK unemployment rose by 28,000 in the three months to January, reaching 2.67m. The unemployment rate was 8.4% of the economically active population, up 0.1% on the previous three months, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The proportion of people out of work has not been higher since 1995, the ONS said. Chancellor George Osborne is reported to be launching a new 100-year, or even perpetual, gilt as part of next week's 2012 Budget, in an attempt to "lock in" the benefits of the UK's low borrowing costs and its international 'safe-haven' status. MINERS TUMBLE, FINANCIALS JUMPThe miners were providing a drag today. With the dollar hitting an 11-month high against the yen and a one-month high against the euro, greenback-denominated commodities became more expensive, prompting a fall in the prices of gold, silver and copper. Kazakhmys lead the downfall, dropping 4%, while Randgold Resources, Antofagasta and Vedanta Resources followed closely behind.Heading the other way were financial stocks following on from the results of the US banking stress tests and some well-received results from Legal & General. The legion of income investors holding shares of Legal and General were cheered by the insurance leviathan's decision to bump up the 2011 dividend by more than a third, well ahead of market expectations. Insurance peers Resolution, Aviva and Prudential and banking groups RBS and Barclays were also making decent gains.Security group G4S was being pressured lower by a downgrade from Exane BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse, who both cut their respective ratings from outperform to neutral. Telecoms group Vodafone was also lower after Exane BNP Paribas cut its rating from neutral to underperform. Adding to further downward pressure was the ongoing investigation by the EU Competition Commission that is looking into meetings that the group held with the other four largest telecoms giants to discuss the market. Meanwhile, medical devices and airport scanners maker Smiths Group fell after it warned of an "uncertain" trading environment due to government spending cuts.Tullow Oil was in demand after pre-tax profits jumped 499% and sales rose 111% in 2011. Prime Markets labelled the group this morning as an "explosive momentum growth play, backed by the sort of impressive fundamental growth numbers normally seen in an explosive small cap growth stock." FTSE 250: YULE CATTO JUMPS 9%Shares in polymer business Yule Catto raced ahead after it announced it had doubled profits in 2011. The price was also boosted by the firm saying it had enjoyed a solid start to 2012. Building products distributor SIG rose strongly after capping a strong year with a 27% jump in profits in 2011, as it benefitted from improved trading conditions. As was the case on the first-tier index, the miners were leading the downside with Petropavlovsk, New World Resources and African Barrick Gold falling at least 4% each.BCFTSE 100 - RisersLegal & General Group (LGEN) 134.30p +7.18%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 283.20p +5.24%Barclays (BARC) 248.80p +3.86%Aviva (AV.) 374.40p +3.65%Standard Life (SL.) 246.00p +3.14%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 26.56p +3.11%Prudential (PRU) 785.00p +2.88%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 35.45p +2.44%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 370.80p +2.40%ICAP (IAP) 403.00p +2.28%FTSE 100 - FallersKazakhmys (KAZ) 943.50p -4.31%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,850.00p -3.66%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,391.00p -2.73%Vodafone Group (VOD) 166.65p -2.40%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,000.50p -2.27%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,213.00p -2.26%Hammerson (HMSO) 420.10p -2.07%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,793.00p -2.02%G4S (GFS) 278.00p -1.94%Meggitt (MGGT) 400.30p -1.91%FTSE 250 - RisersYule Catto & Co (YULC) 228.90p +9.00%Premier Farnell (PFL) 228.80p +6.22%Ocado Group (OCDO) 118.00p +5.92%SVG Capital (SVI) 295.50p +5.91%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 793.00p +5.03%Home Retail Group (HOME) 115.00p +4.55%Electrocomponents (ECM) 261.20p +4.23%SIG (SHI) 119.90p +3.81%Soco International (SIA) 339.90p +3.69%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 52.35p +3.66%FTSE 250 - FallersPetropavlovsk (POG) 625.00p -6.23%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 739.00p -5.26%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 456.60p -4.64%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 415.50p -4.48%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 493.20p -4.23%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 35.40p -3.99%Elementis (ELM) 189.30p -3.47%SDL (SDL) 724.00p -3.34%Inchcape (INCH) 404.70p -3.23%Exillon Energy (EXI) 213.40p -3.09%