LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Gains, But Tobacco, Mining Stocks Struggle

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks edged higher Wednesday, recovering modestly from the worst session in about five months, but the benchmark FTSE 100 still lagged a rally in the broader European equity market.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 6,721.51. Power-equipment provider Aggreko PLC topped the index as its shares rose 3.8%. Royal Mail PLC picked up 3.6% and British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines PLC tacked on 3%.

Ending in the red were British Tobacco PLC and Imperial Tobacco Group PLC . Their shares fell 0.7% and 0.3%, respectively, after U.K. lawmakers Wednesday voted to have standardized, or plain, packaging (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31839859) on tobacco products, starting in 2016. The packaging will likely carry health warnings and minimize the presence of brand names on cigarette boxes and other products.

British American Tobacco said Wednesday it will launch legal action against the U.K. government. "This legislation is a case of the U.K. Government taking property from a U.K. business without paying for it. That is illegal under both U.K. and European law," said Jerome Abelman, corporate & regulatory affairs director at British American Tobacco, in a statement.

Resources weigh: The FTSE 100's gain was also kept in check by losses for mining shares following slower-than-expected industrial-output growth in China (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-jan-feb-industrial-output-growth-slows-2015-03-11), a major commodities buyer. Copper miner Antofagasta PLC fell 1.7%, adding to Tuesday's 5.5% drop. Precious-metal producer Fresnillo PLC pulled back 1.1% and iron-ore miner Glencore PLC declined 0.6%.

Mining and energy stocks led Tuesday's selloff that left the FTSE 100 down by 2.5%, its sharpest fall since mid-October.

The Stoxx Europe 600 also dropped on Tuesday, but rallied Wednesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-rally-as-weaker-euro-fuels-exporters-2015-03-11)as euro weakness bolstered exporters, and as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi touted what he says has been an effective start of the bank's quantitative easing program. The Stoxx 600 rose 1.5%, and Germany's DAX 30 (DAX) notched a record high as it jumped 2.7%

The "FTSE 100 continues to massively underperform the DAX...it hasn't got the QE behind it that the DAX has" and the lack of energy plays on the DAX cushions the index when oil prices are driven lower, in contrast with the FTSE 100, said Richard Perry, market analyst at Hantec Markets.

Perry said the FTSE 100 appears "on the brink of a possible correction...with the first initial support around the 6,650 area."

It was just late last month that the FTSE 100 reached its best closing high, finally surpassing the previous closing high set in December 1999.

Sterling: Meanwhile, the pound (GBPUSD) fell to $1.4952 from $1.5070 late Tuesday, trading at levels not seen since mid-2013. The pound slipped after data showed U.K. manufacturing output in January fell 0.5%, rather than the 0.2% increase that had been expected. But much of the currency's fall has been the result of a rally in the dollar (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-up-after-losing-a-chunk-of-gains-overnight-2015-03-11)(DXY) against major rivals as the U.S. Federal Reserve appears set to begin raising interest rates this year.

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