London open: Weak start for Footsie

London has opened sharply lower in early deals as traders await the return of Wall Street, back after Friday's Independence Day holiday.Miners are the worst performers after concern that the poor US jobs data heralds more economic woe for the country. Xtrata, Rio Tinto, Lonmin and Fresnillo are worst affected. Oil and related businesses are also down with Wood Group and Wellstream both off the pace.Budget airline easyJet carried 0.8% more passengers in June than the same time last year, although the load factor eased 0.6% to 86.3%. The increase wasn't as impressive as May's 1.8% jump, but the carrier still ferried almost 4.15m people around last month. Passenger numbers for the past 12 months are up 7.9% year on year.Price comparison web site Moneysupermarket.com is trading in line with expectations, with little change in performance levels since the company's statement in April. The company said in April that trading had stabilised after a sharp drop in revenues in the first quarter. JJB Sports is looking at raising up to £50m, including a possible share issue. It's mulling the sale of further non-core assets, an extension in the maturity date of its working capital facility beyond September 2010, and a possible placing and open offer. Digital TV set-top box maker Pace is delivering the strong operating performance expected by the board. It said in April that it was seeing increased demand across many of the group's global markets, with the firm increasingly becoming the supplier of choice for many of its payTV operator customers.Housing repairs group Mears said the level of opportunities for its social housing division have never been higher after the group bagged three new contracts. The group's social housing division has been awarded £64m of new contracts, with options for a further £20m.