London midday: Footsie gains evaporate

London is back where it finished yesterday's session as a sell-off in the mining sector on weaker metal prices gathered pace near lunchtime.Many of the major commodity plays, including Xstrata, Rio Tinto and Anglo American had enjoyed gains in early deals, but investors lost interest late morning.Oil plays BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Tullow are still ahead, but off their best levels. Though lower, crude prices remain above $77 a barrel.Sainsbury's is the heaviest faller after posting good gains yesterday on speculation Qatari investors are looking to build on their current 26% stake in the supermarket.Fashion label Burberry is also lower after a good performance recently following a rise in second quarter sales. News that Lloyds has sold its loss-making Halifax estate agency business to LSL Property for £1 helped its shares improve.National Express has been one of the day's main talking points. The rail and bus group's price crashed by a third as investors face the prospect of a hefty rights issue after the CVC consortium dropped its interest in making a bid.Admiral remains on track to meet 2009 profit forecasts with a "fine" third quarter at its car insurance business helping turnover grow 22% to £294m. "I'm pleased to report that not much has changed in three months," said boss Henry Engelhardt in a short trading update. "Our successful business continues to grow and prosper."Fixed income fund manager BlueBay lifted funds under management by 28% over the past three months driven by strong demand for investment grade bonds. Estimated assets under management at end September amounted to $31.1bn, a $6.8bn increase since June. NetGreeting cards retailer Clinton Cards saw sales fall in the year to August 2, but saw an improvement in the second half of the period that continued into the new financial year. Virgin Mobile France, in which Carphone Warehouse has a 48.5% stake, is to pay €56m (£51.3m) in cash for Tele2 France and its 385,000 customers. Chrysalis expects full year results to be "slightly" ahead of forecasts after its Music Publishing and Lasgo businesses performed well during the past two months.Engineering project designer Aveva's latest six months has seen trading slightly ahead of expectations helped by exchange rate movements and solid demand from its existing customers.IT Infrastructure services provider Computacenter posted an 8% decline in sales to £552m during the third quarter amid difficult economic conditions, but said recent contract wins and an encouraging pipeline for the future left it well positioned.