By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Shares fell in London on Tuesday, with
sentiment eroding in the afternoon and mining stocks and some
banking stocks driving the losses. Bucking the trend, Lloyds
Banking Group PLC and BP PLC rose on earnings reports.
The FTSE 100 index fell 0.6% to 6,419.10, looking at a gain for
the month of around 0.3%. The index closed up 0.5% on the prior
session.
London stocks moved a leg lower after a gauge of manufacturing
in the Chicago area slid to a more-than-three-year low in April,
while the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.3% in
February and U.S. stocks traded mostly lower.
On the upside in London, shares of Lloyds (LYG) rose 1.3% after
the bank said it swung to a hefty profit in the first quarter of
the year, with impairment charges dropping off and no need to put
money aside to cover the costs to reimburse customers wrongfully
sold financial products.
Also higher, shares of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS)
rose 4.4%. The company is due to report first-quarter results on
Friday.
However, shares of heavyweight Standard Chartered PLC dropped 1%.
Also on the downside in London, shares of Centrica PLC fell 3%
after the utility was cut to underperform from neutral by Credit
Suisse, which said trading conditions for its British Gas unit have
deteriorated. It noted that Centrica shares have performed well in
the last 18 months.
Shares of heavyweight Unilever PLC fell 1% after the company
said it would raise its stake in Hindustan Unilever, its India
subsidiary, from 52.48% to up to 75%, spending around 4.1 billion
euros ($5.4 billion).
Resources were a mixed bag. Shares of BP (BP) rose 2% after the
oil major posted a more-than-threefold rise in profit for the first
quarter, driven by proceeds from the sale of its Russian joint
venture TNK-BP that offset a fall in oil and gas production and
downtime at a key Indiana refinery.
Many heavily weighted mining stocks were selling off. Poor
sentiment has plagued the sector for months, driven by weak China
data and oversupply. BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) fell 2.6%, while Rio
Tinto PLC (RIO) fell 2.2%. Shares of Anglo American PLC fell
3%.
Away from the main index, miner Lonmin PLC fell more than 8%
after reporting an incident at its Number Two furnace, which has
resulted in that furnace shutting down, and it is expected repairs
will take 30 to 40 days. The company had just shut down its Number
One furnace for a planned upgrade. (Read more
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/lonmin-shuts-down-furnace-after-incident-2013-04-30.)
Shares of Invensys PLC rose nearly 4% after Société Générale
upgraded shares to buy from hold, citing an improved investment
profile and potential upside from merger and acquisition
activity.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires