By Carla Mozee and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

Mining shares slump after Fresnillo earnings disappoint

LONDON (MarketWatch)--After bouncing between gains and losses, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index ended Wednesday on a high note, helped higher by well-received earnings reports from ITV and Standard Chartered.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.4% to end at 6,919.24, breaking a three-day losing streak.

ITV PLC drove to the top of the blue-chip index, rising 5.7% after the broadcaster said it would return 250 million pounds (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/itv-returns-cash-to-shareholders-as-profit-rises-2015-03-04) ($384.5 million) to shareholders through a special dividend of 6.25 pence a share. The move comes as the company reported an increase in net profit to GBP466 million on higher sales for the year.

Standard Chartered PLC shares climbed 5.1% as investors appeared to embrace the Asia-focused bank's plan to conserve capital after a 37% drop in 2014 net profit to $2.51 billion. The company said it would cut $25 billion to $30 billion in risk-weighted assets from its balance sheet in the next two years, among other moves. But the bank opted not to reduce its yearly dividend, saying that will remain at 86 cents a share.

Mining shares, however, were hit hard on Wednesday, with the downward moves paced by Fresnillo as its shares sank 8.5%. The worst session for the shares since December 2013 was ignited after the gold and silver miner reported a 22% decline (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fresnillo-net-profit-slumps-on-lower-metals-prices-2015-03-04) in 2014 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, to $567 million. Analysts polled by FactSet had been looking for EBITDA of $610 million. Revenue also fell, by 12%, to $1.41 billion.

Other mining stocks were also under pressure as metals prices dropped across the board (http://www.marketwatch.com/storyno-meta-for-guid), with Glencore PLC (GLCNF) down 2.7%, adding to its 3.1% decline in the previous session. Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) shares were off 2%, Anglo American PLC fell 3.1%, and Antofagasta PLC moved 1.9% lower. BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) declined 1.6%.

Mining and energy shares have a more than 20% weighting on the FTSE 100, and recent share-price declines have contributed in holding the FTSE 100 back from reaching a fresh record high after the index twice last week marked its best closing levels since December 1999. The benchmark on Tuesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-pushes-to-record-high-but-glencore-barclays-fall-2015-03-03) dropped 0.7%.

Meanwhile, the pound (GBPUSD) slipped to $1.5272 after Markit and CIPS said their U.K. services PMI came in at 56.7 in February. The reading missed expectations of 57.5 from analysts in a FactSet survey. Ahead of the report, sterling traded at $1.5357, and at $1.5361 late Tuesday in New York.

"Notwithstanding the small slide, the index still points to strong growth. The correction appears normal given the sharp rise in January," said Charalambos Pissouros, senior technical analyst at IronFX Global, in a note. "Strong growth, rapid employment gains and accelerating core inflation confirm the improving momentum of the U.K. economy."

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