FTSE hovers above 5,000 in muted trading

UK shares were virtually flat in morning trade, one year on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

The FTSE 100 shed 7 points, or 0.2%, to 5,011.92 as the administrator of Lehman's European arm, PricewaterhouseCoopers said it could take a decade to wind up the bank.

Packaging firm Rexam topped the losers, down more than 2% to 264p, while miners Antofagasta and Vedanta Resources were also sold on fears the recent rally in commodity prices is about to fizzle out.

But mining firms focused on precious metals remained in favour, with platinum producer Johnson Matthey up 3.58% and silver producer Fresnillo climbing 1.8%.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 255 Index failed to move off the starting blocks, ending ahead 0.2%, or 15.56 points, to 10,217.62, with no inspiration from Wall Street overnight.

The main Dow Jones index finished up 21.4 points, or 0.22%, to 9,626.8 as investors digested a key speech by President Barack Obama proposing an overhaul of the banking industry.