By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch)--U.K. stocks turned lower Thursday,
notching their fourth consecutive decline, led by another round of
pullbacks for mining companies.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.6% to 6,461.70. The FTSE 100 index on
Wednesday marked the first time in two months that it lost ground
in three straight sessions, noted Bill McNamara, technical analyst
at Charles Stanley, in a report early Thursday. The FTSE 100's
closing at session lows on Wednesday "strongly implies that it has
further to fall in the near term," he wrote. "Hopes of a 'Santa
rally' are fading fast."
U.K. stocks on Thursday turned lower alongside the broader
European market, where tepid demand among banks for cheap loans
from the European Central Bank added another layer to the
lackluster-growth picture in the eurozone, the U.K.'s main trading
partner.
Bearing the brunt of the turnaround in London trade was the
basic materials sector, which fell 2.3%. At the bottom of the FTSE
100, Randgold Resources Ltd. fell 2.2%, Fresnillo PLC gave up 3%
and Anglo American Ltd. shed 2.6% following a ratings downgrade at
BNP Paribas to underperform from neutral.
In the energy space, BG Group PLC fell 3% and Tullow Oil PLC
declined 1.5%. But shares of Royal Dutch Shell PLC pulled out a
gain of 0.5%, and BP PLC edged up 0.1%.
Shares of energy-engineering firm Weir Group PLC rose 0.4% after
a volatile session. The energy engineering firm was downgraded at
Citi Research to neutral from buy, as the 35% drop in oil prices
since September "has driven a deteriorating earnings outlook," for
Weir, wrote analyst Andrew Simms in Thursday note.
Meanwhile, shares of Sports Direct International PLC fell 1.1%.
They had been higher earlier in the session after the retailer
posted a 5% rise in first-half pretax profit.
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