Shares started higher this morning with the mining sector back in favour.

At 9:10am, the FTSE100 was 18.7 points higher at 5,990.9 but has since pulled back and at midday was down 0.04% at 5969.50 after the sharp slide during the previous session left the FTSE 100 below the 6,000 mark, its furthest fall in a month. Just before 10:00am this morning it briefly broke back through the 6000 barrier once again but could not hold onto any gains.


The central focus of today's session drop is once again about the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's interest-rate-setting body, which began a two-day policy meeting yesterday. The FOMC is widely expected to lift its key short-term rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.75%.


London blue chips remained positive in early deals with shares in Man Group trading up 50p at 2,401p, making it the top riser so far.


Elsewhere on the markets ITV eased 1.5p to 127p after being downgraded to hold from buy by Deutsche Bank, with an increased target price of 130p.
It noted that a critical factor regarding the recent bid activity is the prospective CEO's ability to increase audience share.

The reason for an increase in the target price, up from 125p, is the recent bid offer of in the region of 130p per share, spearheaded by ex-BBC director general, Greg Dyke.


Also this morning, the GUS name will likely disappear from the City after the company said that it would de-merge its two remaining businesses, Argos Retail Group and credit-checking business Experian, with plans to list both independently on the London Stock Exchange in six to twelve months. GUS said Experian's listing would include the issue of new shares, expected to comprise some 10 to 15 per cent of Experian's ordinary share capital.


Vodaphone, one of the most actively traded stocks on the index, trading 324,727,000 shares just after midday lost 1.4 per cent to 122.75p the main reason behind this drop was the EU’s telecommunications commissioner is expected to outline plans to cut so-called “roaming charges”, the increased costs levied on subscribers using their phones outside their home countries. Which is good news for the consumer but not very good news for company's such as Vodaphone.


………and finally just before lunch, the stock market has a habit of falling when the clocks go forward, according to Investor Profit.com The FTSE 100 has fallen 15 years out of the last 25, with an average loss of 0.77%.
It says the likely reason for this is the spring clock change comes when the end of a trading quarter and the financial year is approaching, which has an effect on what is bought and sold.

The stock market has risen in 17 of the last 25 years on the day after the clocks go back at the end of October.