The curtain was raised on a new era in European trading yesterday as Turquoise, the trading platform set up by some of the world's biggest investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, began limited live operation.

On the first day – trading five British stocks and five from Germany – each of its members successfully used the system, which aims to offer cheaper trading for banks and brokerages than existing exchanges. The first trade involved 500 shares in Siemens, the German engineering group. Vodafone, BP, Shell, IMI and National Express represented the British contingent. The platform will be ramped up over the coming weeks so that more than 1,300 stocks across 13 countries can be traded between 50 members in time for its full launch on September 5. Turquoise aims to have more than 100 members within months.

Competition from Turquoise is a major threat for the London Stock Exchange, which this month said that it would slash its fees in anticipation of the launch. The LSE is already facing competition from Chi-X, another new entrant, which recently claimed to have taken 15 per cent of trading in FTSE 100 stocks. Competition is expected to intensify in the coming months as even more new platforms are launched. However, with initial trading volumes falling way short of the LSE, the exchange operator’s shares shrugged off Turquoise’s first assault, rising 6p to 803p.

The FTSE 100 fell 42.6 points to 5,454.8, as gains for a resurgent retail sector were offset by losses for heavy-weight miners. Mining stocks made up eight of the index’s top ten fallers, with Kazakhmys worst hit, falling 89p to £11.73. Eurasian Natural Resources dropped 67p to 969p and Anglo American lost 188p to £27.35 amid a global commodities sell-off sparked by the strengthening US dollar and growing worries about global economic growth and demand. However, retailers pulled in investors after weekly sales by the privately held department store chain John Lewis rose 9.3 per cent, driven by strong trading in electricals and clothing. Fashion retailers were also buoyed by better than expected July sales figures from H&M, the Swedish fashion retailer.

Marks & Spencer rose 10¼p to 276p, Next gained 28p at £10.37, and Kingfisher climbed 3.2p to 130.1p. M&S could perhaps have risen even higher had it not been for a negative note from JPMorgan, which gave three reasons for keeping the stock underweight. The broker said M&S remained exposed to an imbalance of supply and demand in the clothing market, that its premium food offering was vulnerable in the current environment, and that the stock was already fully valued, with further earnings downgrades expected later this year. Worse still, it is understood that the retailer’s branded foods trial has flopped, performing below internal expectations.

In the FTSE 250 Michael Page fell 17½p to 317½p after it rejected attempts by Adecco, its rival, to buy the company, saying a proposed £1.3 billion deal “materially undervalued” it.

— New York: Shares on Wall Street ended a volatile week with a mixed showing as worries about credit markets and the economy tempered investors’ upbeat sentiments about falling oil prices. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 11,659.90 points, up 44.00.

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