Shares turned negative by midday trading at the start of the week, on the back of falling crude oil and copper prices.


The FTSE100 is currently 12 points lower at 6,079.7. The FTSE250 is up 16.5 points at 10,124.4 and the FTSE Small caps is also on the rise 4.6 points ahead at 3,677.

Volume was fair with 1.055 billion shares trading hands in 149,132 deals.


The mining sector remained very volatile this morning, soaring in opening deals in the wake of further strength across commodity prices, before early highs quickly gave way to profit-taking as metal prices slipped back.


Today’s look at individual Stocks:


Because of the volatile mining sector we shall start today with Xstrata which fell 4p to 2,250p, after rising over 10% last week, while Antofagasta lost 38p to 2,506p, both hit by a sharp pullback in copper prices.
Anglo American was down 37p at 2,435p, and both Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were down 27p at 3,233p and 10p at 1,187.5p, respectively.


Oil stocks also retreated earlier this morning, with the three majors all affected by the drop in crude prices.

BP was down 4.5p to 680p. Shell was down 10p to 1,944p, while BG Group was the FTSE100's biggest looser dropping back 18p to 752p. After early gains, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, slipped back below $70 a barrel.


The other main business news so far today was a big story on the no-frills airline easyJet. The company said the number of passengers it carried in April rose 16.8% to 2,848,065.
The Luton-based carrier also said it carried 14% more passengers in the year to April 2006 than in the previous 12 months, with numbers rising to 31,331,115 from 27,487,296 beforehand. It said the number of seats actually occupied on its aircraft, last month rose by 1.2% to 86.4% compared with the same month last year. However, on a rolling 12-month basis, the load factor declined by 0.7 percentage points to 84.2%.

easyJet said un-audited total revenues on a rolling 12-month basis lifted by 20.8% to £1.468 billion from £1.216 billion previously. Last Wednesday, easyJet reported first half to end-March results ahead of expectations and upgraded its guidance for the full year. The company said pre-tax losses for the half-year were £40.3 million, compared with a loss of £21.6 million a year earlier and forecasts for a loss of £45 million.
Overall, easyJet said it expected pre-tax profit for the full year to grow by 10% to 15% compared with 2005.

The stock is currently up 1.89% at 337.75p


Unilever, was also lower this morning dropping 2p to 563.5p, after being downgraded to equal-weight from overweight by Morgan Stanley, with a lowered target of 600p from 650p. The US broker argued that although the company has delivered an impressive top-line recovery as the year has progressed, it thinks this is unlikely to continue in 2006 and fails to see further catalysts for out performance.


Cadbury Schweppes dropped 5p to 544p after Credit Suisse reiterated it’s underperform stance and trimmed estimates. The Swiss broker argued that it believes Cadbury's high margin UK confectionery business has 'got off to a slow start in 2006'.


Property stocks somehow managed to extend last week's gains even further, led by British Land, as REIT excitement continued. Cazenove raised its net asset value forecasts for the company, upping its 2006 NAV estimate by 3.4% to 1,478p and by 6.2% to 1,692p for 2007.
British Land gained 42p to 1,351p and Hammerson was up 5p at 1,224p.


Broker comment also lifted ICI, 10.5p higher at 401.25p, as Merrill Lynch upped its target price on the chemicals group to 450p and reiterated its buy advice.


Helphire Group was another winner in the FTSE this morning, up 13.5p at 418p, on the back of news that it has won a 'significant' contract to provide accident management services to a major insurance company with around 1 million motor policy holders. The Footsieblog believes this stock is a long-term hold as the company continues to win contracts and the sector becomes more conciliated over the coming year.


The Portfolio:


Good start to the week from the portfolio.

Wolfson (WLF) continued its gains to climb 3.63% higher at 549.75. The target for this stock remains at 600p
CSR (CSR) continues its assault on its all time high the stock is currently 0.81% higher at 1493.00p

After last weeks announcement that Marchpole Holdings PLC (MPH) has signed an initial 3-yr children's clothes licence deal with OKAIDI the shares are slightly down this morning after last weeks impressive rise. The shares are currently trading down 1.92% at 25.50p. The target for this stock is 30.00p

Tullow Oil is currently up 1.44% at 441.25p.