By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks fell Tuesday, with the
benchmark FTSE 100 feeling the weight of losses among miners after
poor data from China, but most bank stocks edged up after most
major U.K. banks passed the Bank of England's stress tests.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 6,168.10, with mining stocks weakening
after a closely watched report indicated contraction in
manufacturing activity in China, a key buyer of commodities. The
headline number of HSBC's preliminary or "flash" version of the
December manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 49.5, a
seven-month low. The reading was below the 50 mark that separates
overall growth from contraction.
Shares of miners Randgold Resources Ltd. and Fresnillo PLC fell
3.4% and 0.8%, respectively, leading decliners on the FTSE 100. BHP
Billiton PLC (BHP) lost 0.6%, and Antofagasta PLC declined
0.7%.
Among banks, Barclays PLC rose 0.7% and Lloyds Banking Group PLC
picked up 0.2% after the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation
Authority said eight U.K. lenders passed a balance-sheet health
check. The Co-operative Bank, which isn't publicly listed, failed
the test and needed to submit a revised plan to strengthen its
balance sheet.
Shares of state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC slipped
0.1%. Also, Standard Chartered PLC was down 0.8% after the
Asia-focused company sold its consumer finance units in Hong Kong
and Shenzhen in a move to shed noncore assets.
Meanwhile, BT Group PLC (BT) shares were off 0.3% after the
telecommunications company said late Monday it's in talks to buy
mobile-services provider EE for 12.5 billion pounds ($19.54
billion). There had been speculation that BT would pursue a bid of
O2, which is owned by Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF)
(TEF)Investors will look for U.K. government data on inflation
in November, released at 9:30 a.m. in London. The indicator is
expected to come in at 1.1%, which would be the lowest level since
September 2009.
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