London midday: Miners drag Footsie down

Equity prices started to come off the bottom towards the end of the morning trading session ahead of the Bank of England interest rate and quantitative easing decision which, as expected, preserved the status quo.Miners are out of favour as metal prices show signs of fatigue. Vedanta Resources provided a spot of cheer I the sector, saying it saw a significant uplift in annual production at all its businesses in fiscal 2009/10, with record quarterly production of iron ore and aluminium during the first three months of 2010. Better than expected sales figures have failed to lift M&S. The High Street favourite enjoyed a strong start to the year. Total sales in the 13 weeks to March 27 were up by 6.2% from the same period the previous year and by 5.1% on a like-for-like basis.In contrast, inter-dealer broker ICAP is wanted after Credit Suisse issued a positive note on the company along with an 'outperform' rating. British Airways and Spanish airline Iberia have formally signed a merger agreement that will result in the creation of one of the world's largest airline groups by the end of the year, BA announced. Elsewhere in the sector, no-frills airline Easyjet said it carried 13.5% more passengers in March compared with the same month in 2009. BG Group and its joint venture partners have successfully completed drilling a Tupi field appraisal well in the BM-S-11 licence area, Santos Basin pre-salt, offshore Brazil. The appraisal well confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons on the outer limits of the Tupi field.Asia-focused independent oil and gas exploration and production company Salamander Energy is suffering after announcing it has plugged and abandoned Phu Kheng-1 well in block L27/43, Khorat Basin, onshore north-east Thailand. Salamander owns a 27.2% interest in block L27/43.Plastics group Victrex said the strong start to the year continued into February and March, leading to a 52% rise in sales volumes in the six months to March 31 compared with the same period the previous year.Financial and healthcare software provider Misys enjoyed strong trading in the three months to February 28, with revenues up by 7% and operating profit climbing by 18%.International Public Partnerships (INPP), the investment group that focuses on public and social infrastructure investments, said its portfolio continues to perform in line with expectations.Recruiter Hays is bucking the trend. It reported a 10% decline in quarterly like for like net fees but cheered investors by saying has seen stability in the UK and progress in most of its markets. "In the UK, we are seeing sequential growth in the private sector offset by reductions in the public sector," Hays said in a company statement.British Columbia based aggregates company Pan Pacific has reported strong demand for its products from its Quadling quarry after the new by-pass road for hauling aggregates from the site was opened on 26 March.Engineering support services group Redhall said trading in the six months to 31 March 2010 has been in line company expectations and is confident of meeting full year targets.FTSE 100 - RisersSmith & Nephew (SN.) 669.00p +0.83%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 737.00p +0.82%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 680.90p +0.50%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,459.00p +0.41%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,131.00p +0.35%British Airways (BAY) 238.80p +0.25%ICAP (IAP) 378.90p +0.24%Schroders (SDR) 1,441.00p +0.14%Sage Group (SGE) 245.60p +0.12%Next (NXT) 2,254.00p +0.04%FTSE 100 - FallersXstrata (XTA) 1,269.00p -3.39%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,748.00p -2.62%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,218.00p -2.56%Old Mutual (OML) 121.10p -2.50%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,564.00p -2.43%Aviva (AV.) 376.50p -2.33%Fresnillo (FRES) 853.00p -2.23%Burberry Group (BRBY) 693.00p -2.12%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,859.00p -2.02%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,032.00p -1.99%