At high noon, the FTSE100 was down 5.16 points at 5,055.76 with the FTSE250 off 23.42 points at 9,012.49 and the FTSE Smallcaps 10.13 points lower at 2,764.05.

NEW YORK

US stock futures were flat, with little corporate news for inspiration. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down just 2 points, S&P500 futures were little changed at 1,059.7 and Nasdaq 100 futures were off 1.75 points at 1,743.25.

LONDON MARKETS

The miners-led early gains in London dissipated as base metals prices eased and combined with weakness in financial issues and oil majors, forcing the main index into the red by midday.

After a promising start, financial issues became a burden, with insurers prevalent on the losers list and Aviva the worst of them, down 17.1p at 348p. Prudential slipped 21.5p at 553p, Standard Life lost 2.2p at 192p and Legal & General dropped 3.45p at 70.2p.

Among the banks, Lloyds was the weakest link, off 1.725p at 46.59p, while Royal Bank of Scotland edged down 0.48p at 31.79, after announcing completion of the ABN AMRO legal demerger in the Netherlands. Barclays lost 9.1p at 259.9p, Standard Chartered tumbled 35.5p at 1,371p and HSBC slipped 3.4p at 644.6p.

On the upside, interdealer broker ICAP rallied 4.8p at 298.8p after its recent fall from grace.

Randgold Resources surged 172p to 4,381p on reporting a 79% increase in profit for the year to end-December to $84.3m, against the prior year $47m, on the back of record production at its flagship Loulo operation. The group's Q4 profit of $38.7m was up 185% quarter-on-quarter and 315% up on 2008. The dividend was hiked 30%. Silver miner Fresnillo, up 13p at 682.5p, was the sector's only other midday gainer.

Xstrata was also in big demand early on after revealing better-than-expected operating EBITDA of $7bn in the year to end-December 2009 and resuming its dividend. However, the attraction was short-lived and the shares lost 13.6p at 936.4p as the market turned.

Others in the sector were in worse shape, with Vedanta Resources the biggest loser, off 65p at 2,254p and Antofagasta 18p lower at 808.5p.

Oil producers gave up any semblance of a rally as crude remained around the $71 a barrel level, with Shell falling 2.5p at 1,653p and BP off 3.5p at 556.5p.

Explorer Tullow Oil fell 28p at 1,129p, despite confirmation that ENI International has terminated its agreement with Heritage in Uganda after Tullow's exercise of a pre-emption right, making progress on a deal appear easier.

Power companies were buoyant, with International Power jumping 7.5p at 321.4p in reaction to weekend press reports that GDF Suez may make an improved offer. Drax was up 1.7p at 409.2p and National Grid 3.5p higher at 630p.

Household goods conglomerates Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser made strides higher, up 13p at 1,831p and 6p at 3,136p, respectively.

Cigarette makers were to the fore as their defensive qualities came into play, with BAT ahead 36p at 3,090p and Imperial Tobacco 21p higher at 2,047p.

The drinks industry was also well represented on the leaderboard, with Diageo gaining 9p at 1,009p and SABMiller 21p better at 1,671p.

Other notable winners at midday included satellite operator Inmarsat, ahead 17p at 724,5p and chocolatier Cadbury, up 6.5p at 839.5p.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire