GOLD Randgold Resources Limited ADS Each Represented BY One Ordinary Share (delisted)

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

U.K. stocks fell Monday, with losses for commodity shares pulling the benchmark FTSE 100 away from a positive start for a week that will be loaded with corporate earnings reports as well as global economic commentary from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.

The FTSE 100 turned down 0.5% to 6,700.86 after it logged modest gains earlier in the session. The index on Friday closed up 0.5% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-sags-as-downgrades-weigh-following-global-markets-lead-2016-07-22), lifted after poor economic data sent the pound sharply lower while it spurred expectations for monetary stimulus by the Bank of England when it meets on Aug. 4.

But no such boost in equities came Monday following a fresh snapshot of industrial trends from the Confederation of British Industry. Its gauge of business optimism slid to minus 47% in the past quarter, the lowest since a January 2009 reading of minus 64%.

"Manufacturers picked up the pace over the second quarter, with output growing solidly. We're also seeing encouraging signs of a boost to export competitiveness from a weaker sterling," CBI Chief Economist Rain Newton-Smith said in a statement.

"But it's clear that a cloud of uncertainty is hovering over [the] industry, post-Brexit. We see this in weak expectations for new orders, a sharp fall in optimism and a scaling back of investment plans," she wrote.

Investors this week will look to see if any uncertainty surrounding Brexit, or the U.K.'s pending exit from the European Union, will have been a factor in monetary policy decisions by the Fed and the Bank of Japan. The Fed will release its decision on Wednesday and the Bank of Japan will announce on Friday.

Commodity shares: Losses for the blue-chips benchmark started to pick up pace in afternoon trade as prices for West Texas Intermediate oil (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-prices-slip-as-market-pessimism-over-supply-persists-2016-07-25) and Brent crude fell by 2%. The move extended Friday's drop that left oil futures at their lowest level in about 11 weeks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-prices-struggle-after-a-week-of-losses-2016-07-22), hurt part by another rise in weekly rise U.S. drilling activity

Shares of oil majors BP PLC (BP.LN) (BP.LN) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) (RDSB.LN) each dropped 2.6%. BP's second-quarter earnings report is due on Tuesday, with analysts polled by FactSet looking for a slip in per-share earnings to 4 cents a share on a pullback in revenue to $38.66 billion.

Shell's second-quarter report is due on Thursday.

For oil, a "more compelling bearish fundamental surprise here remains the uptrend in OPEC production that is postponing the anticipated rebalancing of the global market, something the market still seems reluctant to acknowledge," wrote Tim Evans, an energy futures specialist at Citi, in a Monday note.

Meanwhile, mining shares have worsented over Monday's session. Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS.LN) dropped 4.1% as the miner said difficulties at its Tongon gold mine (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/randgold-sees-improved-results-at-ivory-cost-mine-2016-07-25) in Ivory Coast will hurt production for the year. Repairs at the mine have been completed.

Shares of rivals Fresnillo PLC (FRES.LN) and Antofagasta PLC (ANTO.LN) were off 2.9% and 1%, respectively, with metals prices trading lower. Shares of iron ore heavyweight BHP Billiton (BLT.LN) (BHP.AU) (BHP.AU) lost grip of earlier gains and fell 1.1%.

Other movers: On the midcap FTSE 250 index , shares of William Hill PLC (WMH.LN) jumped 5.7% as a consortium made up of gaming companies 888 Holdings PLC (888.LN) and Rank Group PLC (RNK.LN)said they're considering a potential takeover offer (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/888-rank-group-may-make-an-offer-for-william-hill-2016-07-25) for William Hill.

In the financial group, shares of Aberdeen Asset Management PLC (ADN.LN) turned up by 1%. The company said assets under management rose (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aberdeens-quarterly-assets-under-management-rise-2016-07-25)during the third quarter by 2.9%. A net outflow of GBP8.9 billion during the period was offset by GBP17.5 billion in asset appreciation, said Aberdeen.

Bank shares were mostly lower, with Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LLOY.LN)(LLOY.LN) turning down 1.2% and Barclays PLC (BCS) losing 0.5%. But Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN) edged up 0.1%.

There's a "degree of concern seemingly mounting over the outcome of EU stress tests for the sector, which are due later this week. The London-listed constituents may well pass, but it's going to be exposure to others in Europe that could end up proving costly for shareholders," said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, in a note.

The pound on Monday was trading at $1.3123 after dropping to $1.3096 late Friday. It fell below $1.32 on Friday after the Markit's PMI reading showed contraction for the U.K. services and manufacturing sectors in July.

Read: U.K. economy in 'dramatic downturn' after Brexit vote, data show (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-economy-in-dramatic-downturn-after-brexit-vote-data-show-2016-07-22)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 25, 2016 11:20 ET (15:20 GMT)

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