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London open: Mining stocks lead FTSE 100 lower
UK stocks declined on Monday, led by mining shares as commodity prices declined.
A gauge of miners were the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 in morning trade including Anglo American, Glencore and Randgold Resources.
Gold, silver and copper prices dropped on the Comex by 0.98%, 0.42% and 0.07%, respectively.
Oil prices were also lower with Brent crude down 0.95% to $40.81 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate down 1.3% to $40.59 per barrel.
There is little in the way of economic data on Monday, with the CBI industrial order expectations at 1100 GMT and US existing home sales the only noteworthy reports.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials tried to soothe concerns about the nation’s economic slowdown on Sunday. Vice premier Zhang Gaoli told a high-level economic forum that recent data until early March, including fixed-asset investment and employment, showed that the economy was improving.
“We don’t want to shy away from saying that China’s economy is facing downward pressure, but overall the progress is steady,” he said.
In company news, Centamin was under the cosh after reporting a fall in full year profits due to a weaker gold price.
Synthomer rallied after announcing the $226m (£156m) acquisition of Hexion Performance Adhesives & Coatings.
