LONDON (ShareCast) - FTSE 100 closed slightly lower as downbeat miners and banking stocks offset good news elsewhere.

Kazakh pair ENRC and Kazakhmys were among the mining stocks following metals prices lower.

Oil prices rose though, sending fuel-guzzler British Airways shares lower but boosting the likes of BP and Shell.

Bank Standard Chartered was a heavy faller after Citigroup downgraded it from 'hold' to 'sell'. HBOS and RBS also lost value.

Financial information provider Thomson Reuters fell after it reported an 11% rise in revenue for the quarter to $3.4bn, less than the 12% increase enjoyed during the previous three-month period.

ITV led the risers, helped by continued bid talk.

InterContinental Hotels also rose, helped by a 29% rise in first-half operating profits to $284m, in line with forecasts.

But retailers were under pressure after retail sales fell again in July, making it four down months out of five now, with “frivolous shopping off the agenda”, according to the British Retail Consortium.

Things could get worse, warned the BRC, as like for like sales dropped 0.9% last month, while total sales were up just 1.7% against last July, one of the worst performing months of 2007. M&S, Next and Kingfisher fell.

A separate report revealed that inflation is now more than double the government’s 2% target after soaring to 4.4% last month on further increases in the cost of food and high fuel prices.

The Consumer Price Index jumped from 3.8% in June and trumped market expectations of a rise to 4.2%. It’s the highest inflation figure since the Office for National Statistics began compiling figures 11 years ago.

In the FTSE 250, housebuilders started well following strong gains yesterday but are now marginally ahead. Barratt, is one of the gainers helped by stake-building by US firm Polaris.

The experience of the US does not bode well for the UK newspaper sector, JP Morgan said as it lowered its rating on Trinity Mirror to ‘underweight’ from ‘neutral’. The Mirror publisher is also among the heaviest fallers.

UBS has lowered its rating on Old Mutual to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ and cut its target price to 108p from 132p, following the South Africa-exposed insurance company’s interim results last week.

Merrill Lynch predicts a worsening trading environment for Speedy Hire over the next couple of years and downgrades its rating on the tool hire specialist to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’.

Grainger has given the sector a lift with a trading statement. Trading reamns tricky it said, but it is still achieving sales of its residential properties.

Elsewhere, Tesco has announced plans develop a wholesale cash-and-carry business in India, with an initial investment of up to £60m in the first two years. The new wholesale outlets will be designed for the Indian market following local research. Tesco is also entering into an exclusive franchise agreement with Trent, the retail arm of the Tata Group.

Broker and bid target Collins Stewart's profits slumped by 82% in the first half to £9.6m from £52m. "Market conditions are obviously challenging and have adversely affected the Capital Markets division, " chairman Terry Smith said. The interim dividend falls to 1.3p from 2.5p.

Glasgow based engineer Weir delivered an 85% rise in half year pre-tax profit and is confident of achieving further growth for the full year.

FTSE 100 - Risers
ITV (ITV) 50.60p +6.30%
British Land Co (BLND) 790.50p +4.15%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 773.00p +3.00%
Drax Group (DRX) 699.00p +2.57%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 502.50p +2.24%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 245.00p +2.19%
Rexam (REX) 430.00p +1.96%
BP (BP.) 535.00p +1.90%
TUI Travel (TT.) 239.25p +1.81%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,772.00p +1.78%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 900.00p -7.02%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,490.00p -6.82%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 988.50p -6.75%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,166.00p -5.51%
Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 550.00p -5.25%
Thomson Reuters (TRIL) 1,481.00p -4.94%
Wolseley (WOS) 455.00p -4.66%
Next (NXT) 1,080.00p -4.59%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 234.50p -4.19%
British Airways (BAY) 271.00p -4.07%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Grainger (GRI) 223.00p +9.31%
Northgate (NTG) 403.00p +8.70%
DSG International (DSGI) 64.75p +8.37%
Yell Group (YELL) 107.75p +7.75%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 464.00p +7.04%
Northern Foods (NFDS) 65.25p +6.97%
Speedy Hire (SDY) 538.00p +6.64%
Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 202.25p +6.59%
Derwent London (DLN) 1,195.00p +4.37%
Mecom Group (MEC) 24.00p +4.35%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Weir Group (WEIR) 832.00p -7.86%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,095.00p -7.28%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 116.00p -7.20%
Aricom (ORE) 44.00p -6.38%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 267.75p -6.13%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,312.00p -5.88%
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 993.50p -5.74%
Bellway (BWY) 612.00p -5.56%
Persimmon (PSN) 389.25p -5.18%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 410.50p -4.81%

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