FTSE flirts with 6,000

News that Royal Bank of Scotland could be set to announce a huge rights issue of between £5bn and £12bn impacted on financial names early this morning with HBOS down 22.50, Lloyds TSB falling 13.75, RBS down 9.00 and Alliance and Leicester slumping 10.50. However, miners helped pull the FTSE upwards with solid performances from Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Lonmin. Tate & Lyle is top of the winners list up 17.00 while Cadbury Schweppes is also rising up 10.50 to 567.50. Sage Group rose 3.75 while Shire is up 18.50. There were mixed fortunes for the US with the Dow Jones up 1 at 12,62...