London midday: Miners provide a drag on Footsie

- Friday's US jobs data dampens sentiment- Rising exports push China into trade surplus - Randgold bounces back after Malian settlementThe Footsie had fallen by nearly one whole percentage point by Tuesday lunchtime as investors digested a gloomy jobs report from the US which came out on Friday.There were signs that the recovery in the US employment market is running out of steam, as US non-farm payrolls data for March disappointed. The US generated 120,000 jobs (seasonally adjusted) in March, well below the 200,000 expected by the market. Private sector payrolls rose by 121,000 while government payrolls were more or less unchanged. The unemployment rate dipped to 8.2% from 8.3% in February, but the decline was entirely down to people taking themselves out of the recruitment market. Also weighing on sentiment today is the rising borrowing costs on Italian and Spanish government debt. The yield on a 10-year Italian bond had risen 15 basis points to 5.61% by lunchtime, while the Spanish equivalent was up 14 basis points at 5.88%.China's trade balance came in at a surplus of $5.35bn in March, compared with a deficit of $31.48bn the month before, as exports grew by 8.9% year-on-year (consensus: +7%). However, imports increased by 5.3% (consensus: +9%), down from the near-40% jump in February, spreading fears of a slowdown in domestic demand. Meanwhile closer to home, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK house price balance for the month of March showed a small improvement, to -10 points - the highest reading since June 2010 - from -13 the month before. The consensus estimate was for a reading of -12.FTSE 100: Miners take a tumbleMiners were leading the decline by midday as worries over the economic outlook in the US and Eurozone dampened the demand outlook. Antofagasta, Kazakhmys, Glencore and Vedanta were among the stocks suffering heavy losses, joined by financials Barclays, RBS and Lloyds.Glencore International fell after confirming that it is embroiled in a legal dispute as a result of its aluminium supply deal with UC RUSAL, the world's largest aluminium producer. Meanwhile, Vedanta Resources said today that it continues to see reduced iron ore sales as a result of the mining ban in the Karnatka state of south-western India.In contrast, gold producers Randgold Resources and Polymetal were two mining stocks bucking the trend. Randgold was up over 9% by midday after the announcement of a political settlement in Mali which will see the lifting of sanctions against the country by its West African neighbours. Russian miner Polymetal was also in demand after it celebrated its first gold pour at the Amursk POX facility last week and expects full capacity at the plant later this year. Other risers were mainly seen in the pharmaceuticals and utilities sectors, as investors sought relatively 'safer' assets as they scaled back risk appetite. AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline were edging higher, while Severn Trent and United Utilities eked out small gains.FTSE 250: Firstgroup, miners lead the fallTransport firm FirstGroup was a heavy faller on the second-tier index after Barclays cut its rating from overweight to equal weight. Citigroup also downgraded the stock today. FirstGroup was closely followed by mining peers Talvivaara and Aquarius Platinum who were falling in line with the sector.Cobham, which specialises in meeting the demand for data, connectivity and bandwidth in defence, security and commercial environments, edged higher after announcing that it is to have another crack at Danish satellite communications outfit Thrane and Thrane. Elsewhere, Thomas Cook was a big mover after confirming that it is in talks with its bankers about extending its financing arrangements.FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,625.00p +9.12%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 663.00p +4.33%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,531.00p +1.59%Polymetal International (POLY) 942.50p +1.13%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 709.00p +0.71%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,793.50p +0.59%United Utilities Group (UU.) 599.50p +0.50%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,423.00p +0.49%CRH (CRH) 1,226.00p +0.41%Diageo (DGE) 1,528.50p +0.33%FTSE 100 - FallersICAP (IAP) 364.70p -3.67%IMI (IMI) 942.50p -3.38%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 876.50p -3.31%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,092.00p -3.28%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,701.00p -3.08%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,199.00p -2.91%GKN (GKN) 194.10p -2.85%Barclays (BARC) 213.15p -2.80%Man Group (EMG) 116.40p -2.76%Glencore International (GLEN) 400.50p -2.74%FTSE 250 - RisersKenmare Resources (KMR) 49.24p +3.01%Kier Group (KIE) 1,138.00p +2.80%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 570.00p +2.15%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 812.00p +1.88%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 266.20p +1.29%Elementis (ELM) 188.30p +1.18%Computacenter (CCC) 411.40p +1.06%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 518.50p +0.97%Victrex (VCT) 1,386.00p +0.80%Booker Group (BOK) 81.80p +0.68%FTSE 250 - FallersTalvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 225.90p -5.72%FirstGroup (FGP) 202.00p -5.56%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 135.00p -4.73%RPS Group (RPS) 231.40p -4.14%Ruspetro (RPO) 202.00p -3.95%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 454.50p -3.65%Supergroup (SGP) 597.00p -3.63%Michael Page International (MPI) 454.60p -3.58%Halfords Group (HFD) 297.40p -3.57%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,141.00p -3.56%BC