FTSE 100 dragged down by mining stocks

The FTSE 100 ended the week at 4,441.95, down 0.45 per cent from last night and just 3.39 points higher from last Friday.

The index was dragged down by the mining sector, with Vedanta Resources falling by 8.47 per cent and Fresnillo trading 5.4 per cent lower.

Barclays, which announced an £8.2 billion sale of its fund management business to BlackRock, saw its share price tumble by 4.11 per cent.

Financial stocks and pharmaceutical companies helped support the index, with Man Group up by 6.4 per cent, GlaxoSmithKline up by 5.38 per cent and AstraZeneca up by 4.45 per cent.

Apart from a spike at midday on Wednesday when the index briefly headed above the 4,500 mark, the FTSE 100 has remained fairly steady over the week.

Economic newsflow continues to be mixed, and for every hint of green shoots there is a warning any recovery could be long and slow.

The Dow Jones was also slightly down in morning trading, by 0.12 per cent and the S&P 500 was off by 0.55 per cent.