MINING and banking stocks pulled the FTSE 100 Index into the red yesterday despite strong gains for microchip designer ARM and Marks & Spencer.

The London market closed 24.4 points lower at 6019.5 in a reversal of earlier gains that had seen it hit a 30-month high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street also sank into negative territory ahead of tomorrow’s keenly-watched US jobless claims figures.

Joshua Raymond, market Strategist at City Index, said many were looking to take profits off the table after a recent strong run. He said: “The FTSE 100 gave up its day’s gains after a poor afternoon session saw investors sell out of heavyweight commodity stocks citing a rising US dollar pressurising metal and crude prices.

“Much of the dollar’s strength and subsequent FTSE weakness was triggered in part by traders locking in profits and reducing positions in risky asset classes ahead of Friday’s all important jobs data.”

Silver miner Fresnillo sank to the bottom of the index, losing 89p to 1578p, while Lonmin was not far behind, shedding 30p at 1910p. Banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds were also down, falling 0.4p to 40.4p and 1.2p to 67.2p respectively.

Fears for the retail sector were compounded after FTSE 250 firm Mothercare issued a surprise profits warning following the pre-Christmas snow.

The stock slumped five per cent – down 33p to 565p – as it joined Next, HMV and Clinton Cards in highlighting the impact of last month’s snow.

Cambridge-based technology firm ARM was one of the day’s biggest risers after computing giant Microsoft confirmed it would run the latest version of its flagship Windows software on the company’s microchips.

The stock closed up two per cent or 10.6p to 482p.