FTSE falls as mining sector losses outweigh retail gains

Falls among heavily-weighted mining stocks also dragged the FTSE 100 Index lower in London, closing down 16.49 points to stand at 5741.37.

The market wasn't taking any cheer from a strong showing in the retail sector and better-than-forecast results from satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearly 30 points lower, despite upbeat earnings from Verizon Communications and American Express.

Traders turned their attention to the G20 meeting in South Korea, where central bank governors have joined finance ministers as tensions grow over a brewing currency battle that could affect global trade.

Also on the G20 agenda are proposed Basel III rules on boosting banks' capital requirements and tighter rules on hedge funds.

The pound continued its slide as expectations mount over more quantitative easing from the Bank of England – sparked off by disappointing retail data on Thursday. Sterling is now trading at a six-month low against the euro, at 1.127.

BSkyB saw its shares lift 4p to stand at 7011/2p after it recruited an additional 96,000 customers in the quarter to September 30 – taking the total close to its 10 million target.

It also reported a very strong take-up of high definition services and the number of consumers who use it for broadband and telephone.

The advance in customer numbers came as BSkyB posted a 25 per cent rise in operating profits in the quarter to 255m and a 15 per cent increase in revenues to 1.5bn.

But yesterday's trading update did not give any further details on the progress of Rupert Murdoch's 700p-a-share approach for the 61 per cent of BSkyB that NewsCorp does not currently own.

Other risers included British Airways, which shook off a downgrade by SocGen to rise 23/4p to 2833/8p. Results last week from American rivals have given a boost to BA ahead of its own figures due next Friday.

TUI Travel also steadied after diving 11 per cent on Thursday following its admission that it will have to restate its 2009 results due to accounting errors. Shares were 61/2p higher to stand at 2111/2p, a rise of 3 per cent.

Retailers were likewise prominent on the risers' board, with Marks & Spencer leading the way up 77/8p to 4261/4p, followed by Next ahead 39p to 2313p.

State-owned banks shook off any wider G20 nerves, with Royal Bank of Scotland up 5/8p to 461/8p and Lloyds Banking Group ahead 11/2p to 717/8p.

But Barclays and Standard Chartered both fell, declining 27/8p to 283p and 70p to 18381/2p respectively.

Weakness in mining stocks was largely to blame for the poor performance on the overall Footsie, with Eurasian Natural Resources off 20p to stand at 907p.

And in the insurance sector, Legal & General was in the spotlight after it rushed out third quarter figures nearly two weeks ahead of schedule. It made the move after mistakenly emailing some of the data to analysts late on Thursday.

Shares slipped 5/8p to 1033/4p.

The biggest Footsie risers of the session were TUI Travel, Resolution ahead 71/4p to 2593/8p, Essar Energy up 15p to 539p and Lloyds Banking Group.

The biggest Footsie fallers were Reckitt Benckiser down 164p to 3386p and Standard Chartered.