In London, Kazakhmys led blue chips lowers, down 18 pence at 1,032, with weaker metal prices offsettng fourth quarter production numbers, which Credit Suisse said were the company's best so far.
Earlier, Kazakhmys said copper in concentrates rose 9 pct to 433,500 tonnes, while copper cathodes grew 3 pct to 407,000 tonnes.
In reaction, Credit Suisse said despite the strong production figures, it is cutting its price target to 1,300 pence from 1,500p to reflect the recent fall in copper prices.
Sector peers fell in sympathy, further hit by declines in commodity prices overnight, with copper losing 4 pct and weak numbers from US peer Phelps Dodge yesterday.
Xstrata lost 29 pence at 2,295, BHP fell 12 pence to 928, Vedanta was down 13 pence at 1,117, Anglo American eased 24 pence at 2,341 and Rio Tinto was down 22 pence at 2,658.
Oil majors also weighed as crude prices failed to make much headway following steep falls yesterday, with investors waiting tomorrow's US stockpile data.
Earlier this morning, the New York Mercantile Exchange's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was up 0.09 usd at 54.10 usd.
Sentiment was further knocked as Morgan Stanley cut its price target on BP to 610 pence from 685 and on Royal Dutch Shell to 1,825 pence from 2,030.
BP shed 3 pence to 535-1/2, Royal Dutch Shell was down 11 pence at 1,704, and BG was off 2 pence at 663-1/2.
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