LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Faces Weekly Loss As Miners Lead A Decline

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

EasyJet gets an upgrade; pound lifted

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks fell Friday and moved toward a weekly loss, as energy and mining shares came under pressure.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 6,876.51, looking at a fourth consecutive decline. It was also on track for a 2% decline from last Friday, which would marks the index's third weekly loss in four weeks.

The heavily weighted natural-resources group traded in the red, alongside a fall in oil and metals prices that came as the dollar (DXY) rose against most major rivals. Shares of miners Randgold Resources Ltd. and Anglo American PLC were down 2.7% and 2.9%, respectively. Oil major BP PLC lost 0.4%.

Antofagasta PLC pulled back 1.2% as the copper producer said it has suspended operations at three mines because of heavy rains in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. "[N]ormal operations are expected to resume as soon as the situation improves," said Antofagasta in a statement.

But among the best performers was EasyJet PLC , climbing 1.3% following an upgrade to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital Markets. "To us, beyond [first-half] trading ... we think the summer intra-Europe airline outlook has become more positive," said analysts.

Shares of British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group also gained, up 1.2%.

Meanwhile, the pound (GBPUSD) rose against the dollar after Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney told a conference in Frankfurt the next move in the country's interest rates will likely be up. Sterling bought $1.4910 compared with $1.4883 late Thursday. The benchmark interest rate has stood at 0.5% for the past six years.

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