FTSE hits three-week low as mining shares extend losses
By Atul Prakash and Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index slid to a three-week low on Wednesday as basic-resources stocks extended the previous day's losses and retailers came under pressure.
The FTSE 100 index <.FTSE> dropped for a third straight session and closed down 73.57 points, or 1.2 percent, at 6,112.02 points, its lowest level since early April.
The UK mining index <.FTNMX1770> fell 4.2 percent after slumping 6.8 percent on Tuesday as copper prices slipped further on concern about weakness in global manufacturing activity.
Shares in BHP Billiton fell 5.8 percent, after federal prosecutors in Brazil filed a 155 billion-real ($43.5 billion) civil lawsuit against iron miner Samarco and its owners Vale and BHP over the fatal collapse of a dam in November.
"The overnight news of a fresh legal challenge suggests that the March settlement between BHP, its domestic partner Vale and the Brazilian government was just the beginning of the road," Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said.
"A silver lining at this early stage is the shares holding above January rising support," he said, adding its share losses were limited by hopes that a smaller figure could ultimately be agreed.
Glencore , which reported a fall in output of copper, zinc, lead, coal and oil following a decision to cut production because of low prices, was down 3.2 percent. Anglo American , Antofagasta and Rio Tinto also fell.
Oil company Shell also ended lower, down 2.5 percent, trimming about 13 points off the FTSE 100. Shell said on Wednesday it was cutting its 2016 spending plans another 10 percent from the target set in February, when it bought BG Group. The company said it could cut further if it needed to .
London Stock Exchange dropped 4.2 percent after ICE ruled out a counter-offer for the company, which is set to merge with Deutsche Boerse.
Among retailers, Sainsbury's fell 6.3 percent after it reported a second straight year of profit decline and said it did not expect tough trading conditions to ease any time soon.
Tesco was down 5.4 percent and Morrison fell 1.8 percent. A new Kantar survey showed the big four grocers were still being squeezed.
However, Next rose 3.5 percent despite lowering sales guidance as investors took the advantage of its drop to a two-and-a-half-year low on Tuesday.
"We expect some pent-up demand to come through from May, as temperatures rise. As such, we expect some short-term relief for Next's trading," analysts at RBC Europe said in a note.
"Also sterling has recovered some lost ground versus the US dollar, meaning there will be less upwards pressure on pricing from next year."
(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Janet Lawrence, Larry King)
