LONDON (ShareCast) - Footsie ended firmly in the red Monday with falling commodities prices dragging resource stocks lower.

All the major metals headed lower Monday, giving miners a bashing. A report by the International Copper Study Group indicating that London Metal Exchange copper stocks are at their highest level since February affected sentiment.

Kazakhmys, Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton and Vedanta were among the worst performers, but were given a run for their money by oil majors, down on weaker oil prices. Cairn Energy, Tullow Oil and BG Group have slipped.

The lower oil price had the opposite effect on fuel consuming transportation stocks such as British Airways, TUI Travel and the bus and train operator FirstGroup.

The London Stock Exchange fell 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 said.

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. Sector peer Wood Group is lower, however, while elsewhere in the oil area Cairn Energy is in the red, despite higher oil prices.

Insurance companies figure prominently among the few blue-chips on the climb, Legal & General and Old Mutual are going well, but RSA is best performer on talk of possible bid from Zurich Financial Services.

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-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.”

Digital camera group Andor said trading has been very strong in the second half and expects year end result will significantly outperform expectations.

FTSE 100 - Risers
British Airways (BAY) 261.75p +4.28%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 156.70p +3.91%
Wolseley (WOS) 460.50p +3.48%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,860.00p +2.65%
TUI Travel (TT.) 216.25p +2.61%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 1,902.00p +2.20%
FirstGroup (FGP) 619.50p +2.06%
Cobham (COB) 234.75p +1.95%
Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 405.50p +1.95%
Aviva (AV.) 524.50p +1.94%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,217.00p -5.80%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,810.00p -5.64%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,780.00p -5.18%
Xstrata (XTA) 2,922.00p -4.70%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 590.50p -4.68%
John Wood Group (WG.) 455.25p -4.51%
BG Group (BG.) 1,165.00p -4.43%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,744.00p -4.23%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,010.00p -4.19%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 791.00p -4.12%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 226.00p +12.86%
BlueBay Asset Management (BBAY) 267.00p +7.55%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 156.00p +6.12%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 184.00p +5.60%
Northern Foods (NFDS) 68.50p +5.38%
Bellway (BWY) 644.50p +4.97%
Mecom Group (MEC) 21.50p +4.88%
easyJet (EZJ) 342.50p +4.18%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 116.00p +4.04%
Melrose Resources (MRS) 427.25p +4.02%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Headlam Group (HEAD) 294.50p -11.69%
Debenhams (DEB) 46.50p -6.53%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 2,302.00p -6.04%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 408.00p -5.99%
Venture Production (VPC) 783.00p -5.09%
Bradford & Bingley (BB.) 46.75p -4.59%
Candover Investments (CDI) 2,190.00p -3.95%
Dana Petroleum (DNX) 1,447.00p -3.92%
Premier Oil (PMO) 1,210.00p -3.89%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 474.00p -3.76%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Skyepharma (SKP) 5.75p +43.75%
Emblaze (BLZ) 47.75p +24.03%
Renovo Group (RNVO) 30.00p +11.11%
Alizyme (AZM) 7.00p +7.69%
ServicePower (SVR) 5.88p +6.91%
Vectura Group (VEC) 56.25p +4.65%
AEA Technology (AAT) 46.00p +4.55%
Fidessa (FDSA) 977.50p +4.32%
Total Systems (TTS) 36.50p +2.82%
Sepura (SEPU) 74.75p +2.40%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Inion (IIN) 7.38p -14.48%
Morse (MOR) 37.00p -5.13%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 10.50p -4.55%
Trafficmaster (TFC) 27.00p -4.42%
ProStrakan (PSK) 101.50p -3.10%
Network Technology (NTY) 35.00p -2.78%
Corin Group (CRG) 136.25p -2.68%
Anite Group (AIE) 38.00p -2.56%
Vislink (VLK) 25.50p -1.92%
Ark Therapeutics (AKT) 64.50p -1.90%

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