Banks and miners drag FTSE into the red

The FTSE 100 has slipped back into the red mid morning as poor performance from the banking and mining sectors weighed on the index.

London's leading share index made a bright start, rising 30 points after the opening bell, with investors buoyed by China hosting bond buying talks with Italy.

However, with no further signs of a solution to the debt crisis plaguing the eurozone the positive sentiment was short lived.

By 09:40am the FTSE 100 was down 0.71%, or 37 points, at 5,093.

Cairn Energy has taken the biggest hit, down 11% or 35p, to 283p, following the group announcing it is pulling the plug on an unsuccessful well drilled off the coast of Greenland, in which they failed to find any commercial oil or gas.

Other miners deep in the red include Antofagasta, down 5.74% to £12.15 and Xstrata slipping 2.3% to 959p.

All five of London's leading banks have fallen back into the red after making marginal gains in early trading.

Barclays is the biggest faller, down 2.22% to 138p, while HSBC has declined 1.34% to 485p, and Royal Bank of Scotland has lost 0.53% to 20.66p.

Standard Chartered and Lloyds are both marginally down.