Sector movers: Mining, oil and gas shares drive London trading lower

Natural resources related stocks, especially mining, minerals, and oil and gas companies drove the London market lower, as the possibility of Greece defaulting on its debt weighed down investor appetite for long calls in general.

The blue chip FTSE 100 closed down 59.74 points or 0.87% at 6787 with barely a single sector index in the green. Mining and minerals stocks led the market malaise as lacklustre trading in base metals, a decline in silver prices and a strong dollar coupled with the Greece situation triggered falls in their shares.

Antofagasta was among the few from the sector within the FTSE 100 to buck the trend finishing marginally in the green by 4.50p or 0.62% at 732p. Much of the sector was plastered red with BHP Billiton (down 0.45%), Rio Tinto (down 0.10%) and Anglo American (down 0.10%) all in the red. Lonmin (down 7.09%), Petra Diamonds (down 6.87%) and Evraz (down 5.31%) were the biggest sector fallers on the FTSE 250.

With the International Energy Agency expressing oil oversupply concerns, Saudi Arabia logging record production data and traders indulged in end of the week profit taking on relatively higher oil prices, Brent fell 1.2% to $64.31 and took oil and gas stocks with it. Both blue chips traded lower, with BP down 2.06% and Shell ‘a’ and ‘b’ shares down 2.11% and 2.13% respectively.

Temporary power solutions provider Aggreko (down 2.75%) was the biggest FTSE 100 sector faller, while Ophir Energy (down 4.41%) was the biggest mid-cap faller.

Beleaguered explorer Afren (down 16%), already rocked by a boardroom scandal, reserves position revision and debt repayment issues, took another blow after its finance director Darra Comyn resigned. AIM-quoted Trap Oil (down 24.32%) released a statement on Friday, following a sharp decline in its share price noting it was "urgently" assessing a number of potential funding sources.

Elsewhere, Real Estate Investment Trusts sector index also reversed the previous session’s gains ending down 1.26%, as did the construction & materials segment ending 1.52% lower.

Biggest five fallers

Industrial Metals & Mining 1,481.25 -96.51 -6.12%
Oil & Gas Producers 6,890.66 -137.80 -1.96%
Personal Goods 26,154.76 -441.37 -1.66%
Construction & Materials 4,954.71 -76.26 -1.52%
Real Estate Investment Trusts 3,342.62 -42.65 -1.26%