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At 10:00 GMT, mining shares had slid slightly from early gains but were still higher, with rises of between 22p and 48p being recorded by Eurasian Natural Resources, Lonmin, Kazakhmys and Vedanta Resources, Citywire reports.
Overall, the index was down four points at 5,307, despite climbs by a number of blue chip stocks, including TIU Travel, Thomas Cook, Vodafone, BT, Serco and Sage Group - which added 4p after posting its yearly financial results.
Declines of as much as 10p were seen in the financial sector, where Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays were all lower.
Insurers also performed less well, as Standard Life, Prudential and Legal & General dropped by between 1.5p and 10p.
Yesterday, the FTSE had risen in the morning session as fears over the financial situation in Dubai were allayed.
Posted by Clive Arneil
