Mining shares lose ground after Chinese imports fall, helping push FTSE 100 lower

Mining shares are among the fallers so far on renewed worries about a slowdown in China, a key market for commodity companies.

According to the country's latest trade date, imports fell 15.3% year on year in January, raising new concerns about the state of its economy. In particular, copper imports dropped 18.7%.

So despite the takeover developments in the sector - Glencore and Xstrata - investors are taking the cautious view. Anglo American has dropped 76p to £27.84, Kazakhmys is down 30p to £11.47 and BHP Billiton has lost 48.5p to 2066.5p.

This has helped push the FTSE 100 21.37 points lower to 5874.10, with the latest developments in Greece just adding to the nervous mood. Manoj Ladwa at ETX Capital said:

The FTSE 100 has spent the morning trading within a very tight range as traders continue to sit on their hands going into the weekend. Given on-going concerns over Greece, traders are reluctant to commit funds until a deal is firmly approved by European finance ministers.