Footsie enjoyed a brief incursion into positive territory in mid-afternoon trading, but was driven back into the red in line with weakness on Wall Street.

Here, oil stocks were a major drag on the index with BP, Cairn Energy and Royal Dutch Shell all headed south.

Plumbers' merchant Wolseley moved ahead after Credit Suisse started coverage with an "outperform" rating and 1855p price target.

On a day when many companies appear to have been playing musical chairs in the board room the appointment that seems to have had the most effect is that of Andrew Bonfield as the new finance director of energy pipeline grid operator National Grid. The former Cadbury chief financial officer is taking over from Steve Lucas, who will retire from the National Grid board at the end of this year.

Among second liners, investors tucked into Hovis bread and Branston Pickle owner Premier Foods after it confirmed reports in the weekend papers that offers have been made for its meat free business that includes Quorn.

Another stock in the news over the week-end was Wellstream, the oil services firm. US industrial holding company General Electric is reportedly the company that fired the starting pistol on the race to buy the Newcastle-based company, and is still the leading contender, despite other bidders expressing an interest.

Yell has also given investors something to shout about. The struggling Yellow Pages publisher moved higher after saying it has brought in Tony Bates, former chief operating officer at telecoms operator Colt Group, to run its finance function. Bates, who becomes finance boss when Yell reports second quarter results on 9 November, replaces John Davis who announced his departure along with chief executive John Condron in May.

Among smaller companies, shares in financial services software group Focus Solutions soared after it said it had won a £10m contract with an unnamed 'major global bank.'

East Midlands bus route operator Trentbarton has named bus and coach builder Optare as its preferred supplier for the next three years in a deal worth £8.1m.

African Diamonds is backing an all-share bid from Canada's Lucara that values the AIM listed miner at C$82m (£51m), or 51p a share.

Copper miner Weatherly International posted an annual pre-tax profit compared to a loss the year before as it warned of a busy and challenging time ahead.

Leyshon Resources' announcement that it is made applications for five coal exploration licenses in southwest Mongolia has fuelled a sharp rise in the mining group's share price.

A profit warning has also dented the share price of niche travel group Western & Oriental, which was hit by the impact of the volcanic ash cloud that spread from Iceland across Europe.

Western, whose brands include W&O Travel and Iceland2go, said it had to pay for the repatriation of stranded holidaymakers and was hit by booking cancelations.

Gas storage group Infrastrata says it can get a project in Dorset moving forward after completing legal agreements with its partner eCORP.

FTSE 100 - Risers
National Grid (NG.) 553.50p +2.31%
BT Group (BT.A) 145.80p +2.10%
Wolseley (WOS) 1,601.00p +1.20%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 296.50p +1.06%
3i Group (III) 286.60p +0.95%
International Power (IPR) 394.10p +0.92%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 605.00p +0.92%
TUI Travel (TT.) 216.80p +0.84%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,848.50p +0.74%
Man Group (EMG) 217.60p +0.65%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Xstrata (XTA) 1,209.00p -2.62%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,423.00p -2.60%
BP (BP.) 430.10p -2.36%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,223.00p -2.00%
Invensys (ISYS) 298.60p -1.84%
Serco Group (SRP) 597.00p -1.73%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 657.50p -1.65%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 102.00p -1.64%
Prudential (PRU) 636.50p -1.62%
BG Group (BG.) 1,151.00p -1.62%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Premier Foods (PFD) 17.94p +10.67%
Yell Group (YELL) 15.50p +7.12%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 115.20p +3.41%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 78.00p +3.11%
Homeserve (HSV) 442.00p +2.79%
Booker Group (BOK) 49.77p +2.70%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 143.50p +2.14%
Laird (LRD) 143.00p +2.14%
Computacenter (CCC) 301.30p +2.14%
Hays (HAS) 116.30p +2.11%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 19.75p -5.50%
CPP Group (CPP) 260.00p -3.70%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 84.70p -3.48%
Devro (DVO) 241.50p -3.36%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,085.00p -3.30%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 252.00p -3.15%
Inchcape (INCH) 308.40p -3.05%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,461.00p -2.79%
Xchanging (XCH) 142.40p -2.67%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 173.80p -2.36%

Related share prices
BP (BP.) share price
Cairn Energy (CNE) share price
Focus Solutions Group (FSG) share price
Yell Group (YELL) share price
Inmarsat (ISAT) share price
Weatherly International (WTI) share price
National Grid (NG.) share price
African Diamonds (AFD) share price
Premier Foods (PFD) share price
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) share price
Leyshon Resources Ltd. (LRL) share price
Western & Oriental (WEST) share price
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) share price
Infrastrata (INFA) share price
Optare (OPE) share price