Shares in Rio Tinto were pushed higher yesterday after an industry magnate called for the world’s three biggest iron ore suppliers to shore up the plunging commodity price by “acting like grown ups and just agreeing to cap their production”.

The comments from Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, the chief executive of Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group, follows growing concerns over whether Rio and its peers at BHP Biliton and Brazil’s Vale are pursuing the right strategy by trying to compete with China by flooding the iron ore market and grabbing scale on the cheap. Forrest said that he would be “happy to cap my production now” in order to get an agreement with Rio and its iron ore rivals.

But Forrest’s mooted output pact has already upset regulators in Australia who swiftly expressed concern that an agreement could be tantamount to price-fixing. Rio’s ramping up of production has also been a sparring ground between its management and would-be suitor Glencore boss Ivan Glasenberg. As a reminder, the takeover ban on Glencore returning for a second-run at Rio to create a £100m mining titan expires in less than two weeks. Rio rose 42p, or 1.46pc, to £29.26.

Despite gains from other mining heavyweights including Anglo America, Antofagasta, the wider FTSE slipped by 28.71 points, or 0.41pc, to 6990.97.

Tour operator Tui’s shares shot to the top of the blue-chips rising 31p, or 2.6pc, to £12.14 after it reported a surge in demand for its summer holidays.

However, Barclays languished on the laggers list, after it dropped by 6.55p, or 2.53pc, to 251.9p when analysts at Investec downgraded the shares.

Ian Gordon at Investec said that while the “main plank of our investment case for buying Barclays over the past year has been its extreme relative and absolute cheapness, reinforced by an absolute cost reduction story and the material FX tailwind...the valuation case is no longer overwhelming in the context of our deteriorating expectations for the scale and pace of return on equity recovery”.

Mr Gordon lowered his recommendation on Barclays from a “Buy” to a “Hold and gave it a further kicking by commenting he believed the bank’s dividend growth aspirations have “been deferred until 2016”.

And despite every financial institution chattering about growing its IT spend and financial technology being a sweet spot for private equity players, Monitise, the mobile banking software specialist, slumped by 27.7pc, to 13p, after admitting its sale plans had failed.

The group, which hoisted a “For Sale” sign in January, said that it had received expressions of interest, (from suitors thought to include US groups FIS, Mastercard and IBM), but none were at a price level or structure that could result in a deal. The failure to flog has led to founder and co-chief executive Alastair Lukies falling on his sword, although he will stay at the company as a strategic advisor.

Tempered bid interest was also behind SAB Miller’s share slip as the market digested the news that wealthy Brazilian private equity group 3G Capital had hatched blockbuster takeover of US food titan Kraft, rather than the Fosters brewer. Analysts at RBC said that a bid by 3G, which controls also Budweiser brewer Anheuser Busch, now looked less likely following the $40bn Kraft deal, pushing the shares 20p, or 0.5pc, lower to £36.45.

Changing gear towards The AA, shares in the roadside recovery business closed 8.6p, or 2pc, lower to 418.4p as investors digested its plans to raise close to £1bn to slim down its debt mountain.

The company has so far defied all general rules of new market entrants: It came to market last Summer in an accelerated IPO, a mechanism devised a decade ago, with almost six times the normal debt ratio for a listed company and it has since cleared out most of the managers it came on board with at the time of flotation. However, the share sale will see the company’s ownership become more liquid than its current club of institutions and allow the group to save £45m annually in interest payments and pay a dividend in the future.

Moneysupermarket.com was the biggest midcap loser after Simon Nixon, the website’s founder, made a quick reverse ferret on his decision to sell a £100m stake. The bizarre u-turn came after an after-market statement on Tuesday that Citigroup would place 35m of shares. The market interpreted Mr Nixon’s flip-flop as an indication that he wouldn’t be able to get his desired price for the 6.4pc stake, raising concerns that the shares were overvalued. Investors dumped stock as a result, dragging the shares 9.7p, or 3.39pc, lower to 276.3p.

Meanwhile, Balfour Beatty puzzled industry watchers as its shares rose by 5.5pc to 244p, despite disappointing investors for the squillionth time. Leo Quinn, the group’s new chief executive said that he would scrap the company’s dividend and shareholders would have to wait until March 2016 for a decision on reinstating a pay-out.

Lastly, it appeared that even City traders were caught up in Jeremy Clarkson’s fall-out with the BBC as shares in Sky and ITV lost 18p to £10.12 and 2.38p to 256.9p respectively on chatter that the broadcasters might engage in a bid battle for the controversial presenter and a rival driving show.