By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped for the
first time in three days on Thursday, with miners leading the
charge south as metal prices slumped.
The benchmark traded 0.2% lower at 6,443.21, after jumping 0.8%
on Wednesday.
Mining firms weakened, with precious-metals miners posting the
biggest losses as gold prices(GCZ4) slumped 1.8%. Shares of
Randgold Resources Ltd. lost 3%, and Fresnillo PLC fell dropped
2.8%. Among larger miners, Anglo American PLC gave up 2.1%, Rio
Tinto PLC (RIO) slipped 1.3%, and BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) dropped
1.1%.
Shares of Barclays PLC (BCS) gained 1.9% after the bank reported
third-quarter adjusted pretax profit that beat expectations.
Other banks tracked Barclays higher, with shares of Royal Bank
of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) up 0.8%, HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC)
rising 0.8%, and Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) up 0.6%.
Outside the main index in London, Balfour Beatty PLC fell 1.5%
after Jefferies cut the construction company to underperform from
hold.
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