FTSE falls back as miners drop

Mining firm Vedanta Resources was the biggest drag on the index with a drop of 2.51% to £11.63, closely followed by banking firm Alliance & Leicester which slipped 2.25% to £10.86, while Standard Chartered bank fell 2.08% to £13.68. Life insurers did their best to rally the index with Prudential up 3.11% to 663.5p, closely followed by Friends Provident which climbed 1.84% to 193.5p, although it was Hanson which posted the biggest gains with a rise of 3.69% to 773.5p. Royal bank of Scotland also performed well with a rise of 1.49% to £18.39, following a broker upgrade, although Wolsele...