London’s leading index is in the red in this afternoon, as domestic and foreign concerns weigh on sentiment.

At home, it is the miners who are the biggest fallers, as falling metal prices hit the share prices of Randgold (-7.52%), African Barrick Gold (-4.14%), Antofagasta (-3.73%) and Kazakhmys (-3.66%), along with Weir Group which saw its share price fall almost 5%. Also dampening the mood was the BCC, who downgraded their forecast for UK GDP growth in 2011 to 1.4%. However, continuing their winning run from this morning are telecommunication giants BT (+3.81%) and Vodafone (+1.65%) after yesterday’s recommendation from Morgan and Stanley. As we enter the close the FTSE 100 is currently trading around the 5950 mark.

Further afield, this morning’s news that OPEC was considering increasing output had initially quelled the rising price of oil, but mixed signals throughout the trading day has caused oil prices to fluctuate and, with the continuing unrest in Libya, a lack of clear direction will no doubt cause tremors among investors looking for consensus. With the ongoing concerns in the Middle East and North Africa many will be hoping that we see a strong session in the American markets to provide some uplift for tomorrow’s session.