Mining stocks have driven the FTSE into negative territory today following a number of high profile firms being downgraded by brokers.

Bank of America has announced that has downgraded Rio Tinto from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’, resulting from what the broker believes to be a bleak outlook for miners in China as it moves to cool down its housing market.

Scottish & Southern Energy is another one to receive a downgrade. Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the electricity provider to ‘neutral’, despite the the recent announcement that it had increased full-year underlying profit by 3 per cent in line with expectations

Meanwhile, Oil explorer Cairn Energy has seen an increase in its share price as it prepares for a four well exploration programme in Greenland this summer.

Investors have returned to BP as it finally seems to be getting to grips with the oil spill in the |Gulf of Mexico.

The oil giant has said it is diverting about 3,000 barrels of oil a day into a drill-ship via a mile-long tube inserted into the broken MC252 oil well following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The group has also skimmed some 187,000 barrels (7.8 million gallons) of oily liquid from the surface of the water.

Top 10 trades
Thursday 20 May (till noon)
Source: TD Waterhouse

Buys
Aviva, 24.9 per cent
Rockhopper Exploration, 11.8 per cent
National Grid, 11.8 per cent
Barclays, 10.9 per cent
Xstrata, 10.9 per cent
Royal Bank of Scotland, 7 per cent
Lloyds banking Group, 6.7 per cent
Yell, 6.4 per cent
Scottish & Southern, 5.8 per cent
Vodafone, 5.7 per cent

Sells
Barclays, 20.5 per cent
Rockhopper Exploration, 17.2 per cent
Lloyds Banking Group, 11.7 per cent
Royal Bank of Scotland, 10.7 per cent
Blinkx, 10.1, per cent
Yell, 9.3 per cent
BP, 5.5 per cent
Xstrata, 5.5 per cent
Aviva, 5.2 per cent
Ferrexpo, 4.4 per cent