LONDON (ShareCast) - September has got off to an unsteady start, although much of Footsie’s decline can be attributed to mining stocks, which have reacted badly to a slide in copper prices after the International Copper Study Group reported that London Metal Exchange stocks are at their highest level since February.

Kazakhmys, Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Vedanta lead the mining sector lower.

Enterprise Inns is the worst performing blue-chip, however, as it is still under a cloud after two investment banks downgraded the pubs group last week. Mitchells & Butlers falls back in sympathy.

The London Stock Exchange is down after the Financial Times said the stock exchange will introduce deep fee cuts and incentives to defend it self against a wave of new entrants in equities trading.

Meanwhile, Turquoise, the rival trading platform to the London Stock Exchange, is confident of beating earlier forecasts that it would steal a 5 % market share by Christmas, its chief executive told The Times.

Oil stocks attract support. Petrofac is posting strong gains after the oil and gas facilities service provider and Mubadala Petroleum Services Company established a United Arab Emirates joint venture, Petrofac Emirates.

Tullow Oil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP Are little changed as the market holds its breath to see what damage, if any, Hurricane Gustav will wreak on oil production and refining facilities. Heavy fuel user British Airways falls back sharply, however.

Floor coverings specialist Headlam warned that due to the unpredictable nature of the current market place, it faces a challenge meeting its trading objectives for 2008. In the last four months to the end of August, “the markets have proved to be increasingly demanding, particularly in the UK,” it said as it posted half-year profits of £20.9m from £20.5m previously.

Market research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres reiterated its rejection of WPP’s offer after the "low level of acceptances" from its shareholders for the offer. On Friday, WPP said it was extending its offer period to 12 September 2008 after it received only 8.61% of acceptances.

Five-a-side football centre operator Goals Soccer reported a 20% hike in half year pre-tax profit after it opened more centres. Pre-tax profit at the East Kilbride, Scottish based group rose to £3.7m in the six months to 30 June 2008 from £3.1m the year before. Sales rose 18% to £11.4m.

Annual profit remained flat at European patent and trade mark legal firm Murgitroyd Group while turnover increased 12.7%.

RCG remains confident about the second half as the biometrics and security solutions provider announced a 73% hike in profits during the first six months of 2008.

Engineering firm Bodycote is weaker after being downgraded to "underperform" from "neutral" by Merrill Lynch, on concerns over future earnings. Business publisher Informa is lifted, however, by being added to UBS’s “most preferred” list in the Swiss bank’s “short-term alpha preferences portfolio.”

• News Channel