London open: Markets fall as Fresnillo leads miners lower

Weakness in the mining sector saw the FTSE 100 fall into the red for the third straight day on Tuesday after some disappointing results from precious metals miner Fresnillo.Asian markets had a mixed session overnight as traders reacted an interest-rate cut in Australia. The Reserve Bank of Australia made a 25 basis-point reduction to its headline lending rate to 2.50% and said "the inflation outlook could provide some scope to ease policy further, should that be required to support demand".Meanwhile, remarks by Richard Fisher, Head of the Dallas Federal Reserve, sparked a negative reaction on US benchmarks last night after he said that the fall in the unemployment rate in July from 7.6% to 7.4% moves the Fed closer to scaling back quantitative easing."I would say that the [Fed] is now closer to execution mode, pondering the right time to begin reducing its purchases, assuming there is no intervening reversal in economic momentum in coming months," he said. "I would have personally started dialling back some time ago."FTSE 100: Fresnillo tanks after H1 reportFresnillo dropped sharply this morning after it posted a 27% decline in gross profit to $518.9m in the first half as revenues dropped on falling gold and silver prices. Sector peers Glencore Xstrata, Vedanta, Randgold, Antofagasta and Anglo American were also out of favour.Consumer products group Unilever was also lower after JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded the stock to 'neutral' and cut its target price from 2,850p to 2,600p. GlaxoSmithKline meanwhile was hit by a downgrade by Citigroup to 'neutral'.Banking group HSBC was extending losses made yesterday after disappointing with its interim report. Deutsche Bank was also weighing further on the share price today after lowering its rating to 'hold'.Leading the upside was quality control and testing firm Intertek after RBC Capital Markets upgraded its recommendation to 'sector performer' and hiked its target price from 2,850p to 3,050p.Hotels group InterContinental impressed with a $350m special dividend as it reported that revenue per available room rose 3.7% in the fist half.Financial services organisation Legal & General was also higher after its first-half results saw double-digit growth in sales, cash generation and profits.FTSE 250: Greggs and esure provide a dragBakery chain Greggs sank after it reported a fall in profits sales as it pledged to reshape the business over the next two to three years.In its first results since its flotation in March, insurer esure announced a robust rise in first-half premiums was unlikely to be repeated in the second half of the year, causing the stock to sink this morning.FTSE 100 - RisersIntertek Group (ITRK) 3,189.00p +3.37%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,960.00p +2.73%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 201.60p +2.13%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,544.50p +1.35%Diageo (DGE) 2,131.00p +1.21%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,062.00p +0.95%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 837.00p +0.90%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,372.00p +0.88%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 382.90p +0.82%Aviva (AV.) 376.40p +0.80%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 948.50p -8.53%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 280.20p -3.25%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 73.76p -2.55%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,210.00p -2.42%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,580.00p -2.30%Antofagasta (ANTO) 873.00p -2.29%Unilever (ULVR) 2,645.00p -1.93%Anglo American (AAL) 1,451.50p -1.63%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,003.00p -1.40%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 712.80p -1.23%FTSE 250 - RisersSalamander Energy (SMDR) 125.00p +5.75%Rotork (ROR) 2,834.00p +4.81%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 37.23p +2.53%Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 347.90p +2.14%Fenner (FENR) 349.20p +1.90%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 435.80p +1.70%Electrocomponents (ECM) 255.40p +1.51%888 Holdings (888) 171.90p +1.42%Alent (ALNT) 374.00p +1.38%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 324.30p +1.34%FTSE 250 - FallersGreggs (GRG) 410.00p -7.16%esure Group (ESUR) 291.20p -6.52%Evraz (EVR) 93.35p -4.01%Computacenter (CCC) 501.00p -3.09%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 169.90p -2.75%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 177.20p -2.37%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 124.00p -2.36%Spirent Communications (SPT) 151.50p -2.07%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 260.80p -1.84%Homeserve (HSV) 260.70p -1.81%BC