London open: Footsie drops below 5,000

The Footsie plummeted in early trading on Monday, dropping below the 5,000 level, as euro worries continue to dampen sentiment.Despite Greece's tough austerity measures, the debt-stricken country revealed on Sunday that it will miss its deficit target for 2011, as it unveiled plans for job cuts across the public sector. Stocks across Europe were hammered in the opening minutes.Meanwhile, in their regularly scheduled meeting today, Eurozone ministers will discuss ways to increase the firepower of the European Financial Stability Fund through 'leveraging', according to market reports.There were no risers on the FTSE 100 early on but rising gold prices meant Randgold Resources - despite falling into the red - outperformed the relative FTSE 100 index, registering losses of just 0.4%. African Barrick Gold was making gains on the FTSE 250.However, falling copper prices weighed on mining peers Vedanta Resources, Kazakhmys and Rio Tinto. Vedanta was out of favour despite Cairn India (in which Vedanta is acquiring a large stake) announcing that it has discovered the first hydrocarbons in Sri Lanka, after drilling its CLPL-Dorado-91H/1z well, the first well to be drilled in the country in three decades. Cairn Energy was also lower.Banking peers RBS, Barclays and Lloyds were among the heaviest fallers.Commodities trading firm Glencore International fell after reporting delays to its acquisition of metal assets in Peru initially announced in the summer.International engineering and project management company AMEC was lower after announcing that it has been awarded a Front End Engineering Design contract for GDF Suez E&P UK's Cygnus gas field development in the North Sea.Electronics and maintenance products Electrocomponents is still seeing year-on-year growth in revenue, though the rate at which sales are growing is slowing rapidly. Shares fell lower on the FTSE 250.Rising higher on the FTSE 250 was exhibitions and conferences firm ITE Group, which said trading in the fourth quarter remained strong as it remains confident in its prospects for 2012 and beyond. Image Scan was a notable performer, surging nearly 16%, after saying that it expects revenues to increase 40% as orders for its security equipment increased threefold from last year. OTHER MARKETSAt 08:20, Brent crude was 1.19% lower at $101.54. Copper prices dropped 3.39%, while gold and silver prices were 1.63% and 1.72% higher, respectively.The euro was down 0.38% against the dollar at €1.3336.BCFTSE 100 - RisersFTSE 100 - FallersBurberry Group (BRBY) 1,102.00p -6.13%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 22.20p -5.49%Barclays (BARC) 152.50p -5.48%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,041.00p -5.45%ARM Holdings (ARM) 534.50p -5.23%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,760.00p -5.12%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,199.00p -5.07%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 756.00p -4.67%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,756.00p -4.59%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 33.27p -4.56%FTSE 250 - RisersSports Direct International (SPD) 229.50p +4.89%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 128.60p +1.90%AG Barr (BAG) 1,210.00p +1.60%SEGRO (SGRO) 223.60p +1.54%Lamprell (LAM) 261.00p +1.16%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 507.00p +0.90%London & Stamford Property Ltd. (LSP) 118.00p +0.77%BH Macro Ltd. USD Shares (BHMU) 19.1 +0.69%Telecom Plus (TEP) 725.00p +0.55%Telecity Group (TCY) 561.50p +0.54%FTSE 250 - FallersFidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 68.65p -9.07%Exillon Energy (EXI) 188.40p -6.59%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 166.00p -6.37%Regus (RGU) 70.00p -5.02%St James's Place (STJ) 295.00p -4.87%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 29.58p -4.58%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 176.50p -4.47%Home Retail Group (HOME) 107.40p -4.45%Afren (AFR) 77.65p -4.43%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 118.50p -4.13%