London midday: UK stocks continue to retreat as miners fall

27th Mar 2015 11:38

Mining stocks led UK equity markets lower on Friday as the pull-back from recent records continued, with little in the way of corporate or economic news to drive sentiment.After a 1.4% drop on Thursday, the FTSE 100 was down a further 0.3% at 6,873.30 by midday.London's blue chip index has now fallen for fourth straight sessions after hitting a new all-time closing high of 7,037.67 on Monday."Regardless of the minor movements seen this morning, there is a sense of quiet on the markets following yesterday's relative bloodbath, suggesting that investors are struggling to comprehend the logical complexities that are dictating current prices," said Connor Campbell from Spreadex.Comments from Bank of England governor Mark Carney were also weighing on markets after he said the central bank is still on track to raise interest rates in the future despite subdued inflation. Carney said: "We're still in a position where our message is [...] that the next move in interest rates is going to be up," prompting a 0.4% jump in the pound against the dollar to $1.49.Inflation data from Japan overnight did little to lift the mood as the core consumer price index fell to 2%. Stripping out the effect of last April's sales tax increase, inflation dropped to just 0%.In other news, a Nationwide survey showed the annual growth in UK house prices slowed to an 18-month low of 5.1% in March.Friday was a quiet day in terms of economic data, with US economic growth and consumer sentiment figures the only major releases in the afternoon.Antofagasta leads miners lowerCopper mining group Antofagasta declined after being forced to suspend three mines in the north of Chile due to heavy rain. Since Tuesday evening, flash floods in the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile have wreaked havoc across the region, where Antofagasta's Centinela, Antucoya and Michilla mines are located.Mining peers BHP Billiton, Fresnillo, Anglo American, Randgold Resources and Glencore were also out of favour as metal prices weakened.Royal Bank of Scotland dipped into the red after confirming it will be offloading its Coutts private banking business to Switzerland's Union Bancaire Privée.Barratt Developments was higher after announcing that chief executive Mark Clare has stepped down following nine years in the role, to be replaced by finance director David Thomas. Analysts had criticised Clare for being unambitious.London interdealer broker ICAP rose amid rumours that it is looking to spin off its electronic trading arm EBS-BrokerTec.Airline stocks Easyjet and IAG were performing well, rebounding after falling sharply on Thursday on the back of a spike in the oil price. Crude prices pulled back on Friday, while RBC Capital Markets upgraded Easyjet to 'outperform'.Market MoverstechMARK 3,183.01 +0.21%FTSE 100 6,873.30 -0.32%FTSE 250 17,237.16 -0.14%FTSE 100 - RisersInterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,634.00p +2.53%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 546.00p +1.68%Meggitt (MGGT) 570.00p +1.51%easyJet (EZJ) 1,863.00p +1.42%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 594.50p +1.28%Vodafone Group (VOD) 226.30p +1.03%Shire Plc (SHP) 5,355.00p +0.85%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 157.10p +0.83%SSE (SSE) 1,559.00p +0.71%Compass Group (CPG) 1,168.00p +0.69%FTSE 100 - FallersAnglo American (AAL) 1,045.50p -2.88%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,774.00p -2.61%Glencore (GLEN) 290.10p -2.39%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,816.00p -2.12%Barclays (BARC) 245.50p -1.80%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,516.00p -1.72%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,748.00p -1.63%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 345.00p -1.51%Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,083.00p -1.37%Fresnillo (FRES) 701.00p -1.34%FTSE 250 - RisersCard Factory (CARD) 303.50p +3.83%Rank Group (RNK) 190.00p +2.98%Homeserve (HSV) 373.50p +2.86%Workspace Group (WKP) 876.50p +2.63%CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,741.00p +2.41%Redrow (RDW) 362.00p +2.26%Betfair Group (BET) 2,276.00p +2.25%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 239.70p +1.96%Diploma (DPLM) 833.50p +1.89%Countrywide (CWD) 550.00p +1.85%FTSE 250 - FallersSupergroup (SGP) 933.50p -5.80%Lonmin (LMI) 123.00p -4.95%Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 590.00p -3.28%Tullow Oil (TLW) 299.80p -2.76%Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 210.10p -2.60%Acacia Mining (ACA) 258.90p -2.23%Drax Group (DRX) 372.30p -2.18%Hunting (HTG) 528.00p -2.13%RPS Group (RPS) 231.20p -2.03%Redefine International (RDI) 57.05p -1.98%