LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s top stocks veered in to the red by the close of play as Wall Street started heavily lower ahead of the extended Bank Holiday weekend.

Miners have been responsible for most of the trading, with profit taking the order of the day. Rio Tinto, Antofagasta, Vedanta, BHP Billiton, ENRC, Xstrata and Kazakhmys were all prominent fallers after the good run-up all have enjoyed in recent days.

Inter-dealer broker ICAP and LSE were both lower after Credit Suisse cut its target price on the former to 610p from 670p.

Supermarket operator J Sainsbury mustered gains after ABN Amro upgraded its recommendation on the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ in light of the drop in the company’s share price recently.

Lloyds TSB was also wanted after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded the bank to “neutral” from “underperform”. Broker comment also lifted Cable & Wireless; Investec has changed its stance on the telecoms stock from “hold” to “buy” while Merrill Lynch has reiterated its buy recommendation.

Meanwhile, travel firm Thomas Cook has agreed terms for a new €1.8bn credit facility.

Funds managed by Candover Partners, Goldman Sachs and AlpInvest have upped their bid for oil drilling services provider Expro after US giant Halliburton made a rival offer. Umbrellastream's increased cash offer of 1550p per share from 1435p has been recommended by Expro after Halliburton mooted a 1525p rival offer earlier in the day.

Pub owner and brewer Marston's has seen 15.9% decline in first-half profit to £35m, just below market forecasts. Marston's Inns & Taverns like-for-like sales up by 0.3% with continued strong like-for-like food sales. Marston's Pub Company like-for-like profit per pub was down 0.6%. Overall sales increased by 3.6% to £316.4m (2007: £305.3m).

Morgan Stanley now has an ‘underweight’ rating on Go-Ahead, having previously rated it as ‘equal-weight’, and cuts its target price on the company to 1,700p from 2,490p. It lowers its rating on National Express to ‘equal-weight’ from ‘overweight’ and reduces its target price to 1,101p from 1,350p.

Management has decided not to bid for Styles & Wood after the retail property services firm warned its order book has fallen behind expectations, sending its share price crashing. It will now fail to meet forecasts for the half year ending 30 June 2008 due to order deferrals and margin pressure. Worryingly, uncertainty over the full year outcome prompted executive directors to decide against pursuing their indicative 125p a share cash offer.

High Street retailer Woolworths moved higher after it confirmed media speculation that it is considering selling its stake in DVD publisher 2entertain.

Boat electronics specialist Raymarine said takeover talks have been terminated and added that first quarter underlying sales were below last year.

European Nickel has agreed to pay $48m for some of Investika’s strategic interests in its Philippines nickel laterite projects. The interests changing hands include a chunky stake in Toledo Mining which shot higher on the news,

Magazine publisher Future's interim profits fell to £4.1m from £6.2m on revenues of £78.3m, down from £84m. Ignoring one-offs last year, profits rose by 17%.

Screen Technology shares were restored on AIM after the large screen display maker proposed a placing, open offer and loan note to raise up to £1.3m. The shares returned around one-third lower than the price at which they were suspended.

Inkjet printer group Xaar said the recent earthquake in China will cause a temporary reduction in activity by end-users within China as a whole and a drop in sales of Xaar Platform 1 products.

Shares in Finance Ireland fell further after the niche lending firm said it is seeking shareholder approval to de-list from AIM and the Irish Stock Exchange to save costs.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Cable & Wireless (CW.) 163.00p +4.09%
Capita Group (CPI) 674.00p +2.12%
ITV (ITV) 59.10p +2.07%
Kingfisher (KGF) 140.00p +1.97%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,129.00p +1.62%
Admiral Group (ADM) 873.00p +1.10%
G4S (GFS) 225.25p +1.01%
Lloyds TSB Group (LLOY) 395.00p +0.96%
Experian Group (EXPN) 398.75p +0.89%
Aviva (AV.) 612.00p +0.82%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,678.00p -5.57%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,299.00p -5.55%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 693.50p -5.26%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,372.00p -4.83%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,010.00p -4.74%
Xstrata (XTA) 4,058.00p -3.93%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 921.50p -3.61%
Lonmin (LMI) 3,287.00p -3.32%
BG Group (BG.) 1,310.00p -2.75%
ICAP (IAP) 587.50p -2.73%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Expro International Group (EXR) 1,626.00p +5.52%
Imperial Energy Corporation (IEC) 958.50p +4.58%
Assura Group (AGR) 93.00p +3.91%
eaga (EAGA) 103.00p +3.26%
Game Group (GMG) 280.00p +3.13%
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 128.00p +3.02%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 105.00p +2.94%
Marston's (MARS) 220.25p +2.68%
DSG International (DSGI) 60.50p +2.11%
St James's Place (STJ) 255.00p +2.10%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 402.75p -5.90%
Collins Stewart (CLST) 88.25p -5.87%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 820.00p -5.31%
easyJet (EZJ) 265.75p -4.92%
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 1,400.00p -4.63%
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 144.00p -4.48%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 96.50p -4.46%
Meggitt (MGGT) 244.75p -4.39%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 132.00p -4.35%
Rank Group (RNK) 86.00p -4.18%

• News Channel