By Preeti Upadhyaya, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The main U.K. stock index traded lower
on Monday, as resource firms weighed heavily on stocks.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 5,828.22, partly erasing a 1% gain
from last week.
Miners led the index lower with Vedanta Resources PLC dropping
2.8% and Kazakhmys PLC 2.1% lower. Anglo American PLC fell 1.7% and
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. PLC shed 1.7%. Heavyweight Rio
Tinto PLC (RIO) fell 1.1%, while BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) eased
1.2%.
Metal prices were mostly lower.
Also on the move down, Petrofac Ltd slumped 5.5%, even after
reporting a 32% increase in net profit for the first half of the
year. The oil-services firm, however, said second-half profit will
be lower than in the first six months.
Oil firm BG Group PLC slipped 0.8% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC
(RDSB) eased 0.4%. BP PLC (BP) dropped 0.5%.
Oil prices were, however, moving higher.
Further weighing on the index, banking major HSBC Holdings PLC
(HBC) dropped 0.3% and pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline PLC
(GSK) slipped 0.6%.
Moving in the other direction, Standard Chartered PLC picked up
1.4%.
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