The FTSE 100 closed down 0.14 per cent today to 5794.60 – on a day remarkable for its lack of direction.

The miners took the top spots – with Eurasian up 6.28 per cent, Angle American rising 4.64 per cent and Kazakhmys closing up 3.94 per cent.

Barclays lost its initial gains – after it announced it was not intending to launch a rights issue but was considering turning to investors to shore up its liquidity problems – closing up 3.46 per cent to 392p.

Home Retail ended the day up 3.42 per cent to 226.50.

The biggest losers of the day were British Airways (down 4.49 per cent) and brewer SABMiller (down 4.06 per cent), while Unilever, Cadbury and Compass Group all fell under three per cent.

Outside the top 100 shares, housebuilders took the honours, as investors started to see value in the shares after the falls recorded over recent months.

Barratt Developments rose 12.72 per cent and Taylor Wimpey was up 8.51 per cent.

Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at IG Index, said: “A choppy but ultimately directionless day sees the FTSE 100 little changed.

“The big news today was confirmation from Barclays that it is considering selling new shares in a fund raising exercise – but at a level above the current quoted price. This saw the shares up by more than ten per cent in early trading but that initial exuberance soon faded and Barclays dropped back to a more conservative 4% gain on the day so far.

“This has been an ongoing theme in the sector for some time of course with early rallies running out of steam, while investors maybe happy to bank any short term profits on the upside at the moment after a painful few months.”

He added US markets were also starting off flat today after oil spiked very briefly to a record high.

“With a quiet couple of days on the economic calendar, it could be the mid-week release of the minutes from the last Bank of England meeting that traders are waiting for to give some direction to stocks. On the upside, 5850 still remains a barrier for the UK index and rallies are still looking somewhat unconvincing at the moment,” Mr Hughes concluded.