MW : Mining stocks, banks pace losses for British shares
The country's benchmark FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 4,639, -46.41, -0.99%) fell 47.38 points, or 1%, to 4,638.40, wiping out the gains made in the previous session as other European markets also lost ground.
UKX 4,639, -46.41, -0.99%
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Most mining stocks fell Wednesday as commodities prices edged lower. Among the decliners, Antofagasta (UK:ANTO 697.50, -21.00, -2.92%) lost 2.8% and Kazakhmys (UK:KAZ 859.50, -20.50, -2.33%) dropped 2.6%.
Coal miner New World Resources (UK:NWR 456.00, -39.75, -7.96%) was one of the biggest fallers, losing 6.5% after it swung to a 41.4 million euro loss and said production of coal and coke declined.
Eurasian Natural Resources (UK:ENRC 822.50, +43.00, +5.53%) bucked the trend, rising 5.8% after it reported a 59% drop in profit to $553 million, but also gave an upbeat outlook and said it seen a broad improvement in market conditions.
Banks also fell back after rallying in the previous session. The fall came ahead of the release of the minutes from the Bank of England's meeting earlier this month, when it decided to increase its asset purchase program by a further 50 billion pounds ($82.5 billion).
Shares in HSBC (UK:HSBA 636.70, -19.30, -2.94%) (HBC 54.41, +1.94, +3.70%) led the decline with a fall of 2.2%, with Barclays (UK:BARC 340.00, -6.55, -1.89%) (BCS 22.86, +0.55, +2.47%) down 1.7% and Royal Bank of Scotland (UK:RBS 45.39, -0.78, -1.69%) (RBS 15.35, +0.57, +3.86%) dropping 1.3%.
In other sectors, shares of construction materials group Wolseley (UK:WOS 1,377, -33.00, -2.34%) fell 2.1% after Nomura downgraded the stock to reduce from neutral, saying it is trading at a valuation that cannot be justified on the basis of earnings growth over the next few years.
The broker also downgraded the broader building material sector to neutral, saying valuations already factor in significant earnings upgrades.