Miners weigh on FTSE

BHP Billiton has dropped 1.1% to 1,003p after Merrill Lynch cut its price estimate for the company's stock by 9.4% to 1,450p. Antofagasta has lost 1.4% to 430p and Vedanta Resources has declined 1.3% to 1,344p after copper prices slid in Asia. BP has declined 0.7% to 606p after it halted 90,000 barrels a day in output at its Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska. It was the second production cut at the biggest oilfield in the US in less than a month because of a gas compressor breakdown. BG Group has slipped 0.4% to 691p and Cairn Energy has retreated 0.2% to 2,061p. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 ...