London midday: Stocks fall on profit-taking after recent surge

UK stocks were registering moderate losses on Monday morning as traders began to lock in profits following a strong start to the year.The FTSE 100 jumped a whopping 6.4% last month, its best January performance since 1989."After impressive recent gains, European equities cooled in early trade this morning as political uncertainty in Italy and Spain put a bid under peripheral Eurozone treasury yields," said Matt Basi, a senior sales trader at CMC Markets."After the euphoria of Friday's breach of 14,000 in the Dow, sighs of resignation abound on trading desks around the city as investors are once again forced to contemplate the uneven political landscape."Economic data was also weighing on sentiment this morning after Markit's construction purchasing managers' index (PMI) was unchanged at a six-month low of 48.7. Consensus forecasts were for a small up-tick to 49.FTSE 100: Randgold jumps after full-year production reportGold miner Randgold surged this morning after saying it achieved record production and profit levels in 2012. Production is expected to increase by at least 13% in 2013 also.However, the wider mining sector was out of favour today. Diversified mining group Anglo American was slightly lower after saying that its troubled South African platinum division fell sharply into the red in 2012. Sector peers Antofagasta, Kazakhmys and ENRC also fell.Banking stocks were also under the weather after Chancellor George Osborne warned lenders that they risked being split up. HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered were lower.UK lender Barclays was also firmly in the red after announcing that its long-running Finance Director, Chris Lucas, has stepped down ahead of the group's conclusion of its strategic review in the coming weeks. Mark Harding, the Group General Counsel who has been with the bank for 10 years, has also decided to call it quits. Energy company Centrica was a high riser after saying it would not participate in a UK nuclear new build. The group said it will now launch a £500m share buy-back programme. Aerospace engineer Meggitt was under the weather after UBS downgraded the stock from 'buy' to 'neutral'. Chemicals group Johnson Matthey was also hit by a ratings cut by Citigroup to 'neutral'. ?FTSE 250: Salamanders surges after oil findOil and gas exploration and production company Salamander Energy rocketed this morning after saying it has discovered oil at the first well in its multi-well programme in the North Kutei Basin. The well, known technically as the South Kecapi-1 DIR/ST exploration well, discovered a combined 40 metres of net oil and gas pay in high quality stacked Pliocene channel sandstones, the group reported.Sector peer EnQuest also rose after saying that oil production is in line with its guidance. ?Transport firm Go-Ahead was advancing after HSBC upgraded the stock to 'overweight and raised its target price from 1,180p to 1,415p.FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,400.00p +5.18%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,169.00p +1.59%ITV (ITV) 119.00p +1.28%Next (NXT) 4,134.00p +0.88%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,912.00p +0.84%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,398.00p +0.79%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,056.00p +0.76%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,639.00p +0.68%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 215.00p +0.66%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,099.00p +0.55%FTSE 100 - FallersAntofagasta (ANTO) 1,120.00p -3.37%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 733.00p -2.79%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 330.10p -2.42%CRH (CRH) 1,338.00p -2.26%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,277.00p -2.11%BG Group (BG.) 1,100.00p -2.05%Meggitt (MGGT) 432.50p -2.02%Aviva (AV.) 361.00p -1.93%Vodafone Group (VOD) 170.40p -1.76%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,180.50p -1.54%FTSE 250 - RisersSalamander Energy (SMDR) 209.80p +12.80%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 65.85p +9.02%Perform Group (PER) 390.20p +3.23%Essar Energy (ESSR) 144.70p +3.21%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,350.00p +3.05%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,760.00p +2.62%LondonMetric Property (LMP) 113.80p +2.52%Menzies(John) (MNZS) 730.00p +2.46%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 99.00p +2.06%Micro Focus International (MCRO) 635.50p +2.01%FTSE 250 - FallersLonmin (LMI) 365.50p -3.84%IP Group (IPO) 124.00p -3.12%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 403.90p -2.82%Carillion (CLLN) 300.80p -2.69%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 263.50p -2.66%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 305.00p -2.46%Ocado Group (OCDO) 103.40p -2.45%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,045.56p -2.01%National Express Group (NEX) 206.70p -1.94%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 72.55p -1.83%BC