London midday: Miners fall ahead of US growth figures

Stocks in the UK slipped on Friday morning as traders took profits after a three-day winning streak with markets nervous ahead of economic growth data from the United States this afternoon.The US Commerce Department is expected to reveal that gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's largest economy expanded at a 3.0% pace in the first three months of 2013, a sharp acceleration from the meagre 0.4% growth in the final quarter last year.However, analysts say that risks are skewed to the downside given the worse-than-expected employment figures from the States in March, as well as falls in consumer confidence and retail sales. In contrast, if the figures come in ahead of expectations, it would reignite speculation that the Federal Reserve could soon move to scale back its quantitative easing programme before the end of the year.Also a cause for concern this morning were comments from Jens Weidmann, the head of Germany's Bundesbank. In a report dated in December but published Thursday by Handelsblatt, he raised issues with the European Central Bank's Outright Monetary Transactions programme, saying it could devalue the sovereign debt of participating nations.Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari said: "It's been quite a slow start to the European session, with a lack of economic and earnings releases providing little direction for the markets. Instead we're seeing some profit taking in Europe, following a relatively positive week for equities."Stocks have performed relatively well over the past few days on expectations that the European Central Bank would move to cut interest rates by at least 25 basis points at its meeting next week on the back of the continuing weak economic data from across the Eurozone.Growth figures from the UK yesterday showed that Britain had easily avoided a triple-dip recession in the first quarter, with GDP growing by 0.3% owing to strength in the services sector. While this was better than the 0.1% expansion expected by analysts, markets gave a rather mixed reaction given that the upside surprise would likely prompt the Bank of England to refrain from injecting more stimulus for the time being.Miners provide a drag as risk appetite fallsHeavyweight mining stocks were in the red this morning as risk appetite declined ahead of the US. ENRC, EVRAZ, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Glencore were among the worst performers.Business process management provider Capita was a high riser after saying that it will form a joint venture company with the UK Cabinet Office to commercialise the government's portfolio of best management practice training tools.Pearson, the publishing and education business, edged higher despite saying that first-half profits would likely be lower than last year as it starts to phase in £150m of annual restructuring costs. Nevertheless, full-year guidance was maintained.Standard Life slumped after the insurer said that its Chief Financial Officer Jackie Hunt is jumping ship and moving to sector peer Prudential to head up its UK and Europe division. The latter saw shares edge higher.Advertising and media firm WPP was out of favour early on after its first-quarter trading update. While the company said that its performance in the UK and emerging markets helped offset weaker growth in its mature markets in the US and Western Europe, it said that clients were still reluctant to take further risks in the face of challenging economic conditions.United Utilities was also in the red after UBS downgraded the stock from 'buy' to 'neutral', saying that it has the most negative exposure to regulator change and its dividend is at risk of a 10 per cent-plus rebasing after 2015.FTSE 100 - RisersCapita (CPI) 880.00p +2.03%Schroders (SDR) 2,292.00p +1.55%Whitbread (WTB) 2,572.00p +1.38%Prudential (PRU) 1,102.00p +1.01%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 262.40p +0.61%Centrica (CNA) 377.00p +0.53%ITV (ITV) 128.00p +0.47%National Grid (NG.) 803.50p +0.44%Tesco (TSCO) 366.55p +0.42%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,256.00p +0.40%FTSE 100 - FallersEurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 274.70p -4.95%Glencore International (GLEN) 319.60p -3.37%Xstrata (XTA) 972.20p -3.26%Evraz (EVR) 161.20p -3.24%Polymetal International (POLY) 765.00p -2.80%Antofagasta (ANTO) 928.00p -2.67%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,969.00p -2.40%Croda International (CRDA) 2,533.00p -2.13%GKN (GKN) 267.60p -2.12%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,338.00p -1.91%FTSE 250 - RisersNew World Resources A Shares (NWR) 159.30p +7.20%Supergroup (SGP) 733.00p +3.31%Rotork (ROR) 2,789.00p +3.30%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 196.00p +2.83%Spectris (SXS) 2,108.00p +2.53%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 44.47p +2.35%Renishaw (RSW) 1,532.00p +1.93%Perform Group (PER) 520.00p +1.76%Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,647.00p +1.67%Drax Group (DRX) 608.50p +1.42%FTSE 250 - FallersKazakhmys (KAZ) 359.60p -3.93%Henderson Group (HGG) 159.90p -3.03%International Personal Finance (IPF) 513.50p -3.02%Micro Focus International (MCRO) 673.00p -2.68%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 213.90p -2.55%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 241.60p -2.46%United Drug (UDG) 302.50p -2.42%Utilico Emerging Markets Ltd (DI) (UEM) 195.00p -2.35%Fenner (FENR) 355.30p -2.23%Redrow (RDW) 205.60p -2.10%BC