London stocks are mixed, having tapered at the start of play, with miners stampeding lower as the prices of Comex-traded gold, silver and copper slipped. Oil majors were lower beside sagging crude prices, but UK house builders continued their run-up.

Soon after the open, FTSE 100 was down 14.96 points, or 0.22%, to 6853.55, while FTSE 250 rose 36.52, or 0.2%, to 18,019.0. At 8.36am, WTI crude was down 1.79% to $47.24 (£35.75) and Brent was down 1.54% to $49.19/bbl (£37.19/bbl). Gold fell 0.39% to $1340.8/oz (£1017.00/oz), with silver and copper easing similarly.