London ends its six-day winning streak due to weaker banks and mining firms
BRITAIN’S leading share index fell back yesterday, snapping a six session winning streak, weighed down by weaker banks, on fresh stress test concerns, and by commodities, on caution ahead of Chinese data.
At the close, the FTSE 100 was down 17.50 points, or 0.3 per cent at 5,253.52, slipping back after having hit its highest close in over two weeks on Tuesday and after adding more than 9.5 percent since the index hit its 2010 low 1 July.
“Investors paused for breath today after the recent recovery, with miners especially impacted by some caution ahead of the next batch of Chinese economic data,” said Mic Mills, head of electronic trading at ETX Capital.
Miners fell back on worries over the sustainability of growth in China, the world’s largest consumer of metals, with Chinese industrial output data, due out on Thursday.
Antofagasta was the worst performing blue chip miner, down 2.1 per cent, while Rio Tinto shed 0.1 per cent after it flagged concerns over a possible double-dip recession and slower Chinese growth in a second quarter production update.
But precious metals miner Fresnillo managed to buck the sector trend, adding 1.5 per cent after its strong second-quarter production report.
Staying with commodities, oils were weaker along with the price of crude , with BG Group down 1.1 per cent, while oil explorer Cairn Energy fell 3.5 per cent.
BP was a big drag on the blue chips, shedding 2.3 per cent, having jumped 12.5 per cent over the past two sessions. The oil major fell as it delayed a critical pressure test that will determine if it can close a cap at its ruptured Macondo well that has leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico for weeks.