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At 10:04 GMT, the firm was down 1.06 per cent in London, taking its stock to 1,866p.
The decline came after it posted underlying profit excluding exceptional items of $5.7 billion (£3.6 billion) for the six months to December 31st.
This was a fall of seven per cent when compared to the same period in the previous year, but performance was stronger than had been expected.
According to Reuters, analysts had predicted that the company would record a figure of $5.1 billion.
However, a cautious outlook may have contributed to its share price falling, as BHP Billiton said in a statement it has concerns about "the speed and strength of the global economic recovery across the developed world" and that excess production capacity and unemployment have not been solved by stimulus measures.
Posted by Greg Secker








