LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Edges Up As Fresnillo Rises; Lloyds Stumbles

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

U.K. stocks edged higher Monday, aided by gains in miner Fresnillo and a late-session jump in BHP Billiton while the index's move higher was kept in check, in part, by losses in financial firms.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 6,988.87, but spent part of the session swaying between gains and losses. The benchmark on Friday declined 0.2% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-gains-as-sabmiller-rises-but-heads-for-weekly-loss-2015-05-15), when British and European stocks dropped as poor U.S. data underscored concerns about growth in the world's largest economy.

The FTSE 100 during midday trade Monday gave up a 35-point gain and fell into the red, a move that was "no surprise to me with cracks in U.S. GDP appearing on the horizon," wrote Panmure market commentator David Buik on his Twitter page.

Fresnillo PLC shares finished at the top of the FTSE 100, rising 5.4% as they remained solidly higher throughout the session. The precious metals miner said it is still on track to boost its output this year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fresnillo-reports-rise-in-silver-gold-output-2015-04-15) following an increase in silver and gold output in the first quarter.

Iron-ore mining heavyweight BHP Billiton (BHP) had been down more than 5%, but managed to swing higher, ending up 2.7%. They had been under pressure after the overnight trading debut in Australia of South32 Ltd. , which comprises BHP's noncore assets. The shares opened at 2.13 Australian dollars ($1.71) each, which was toward the lower end of market expectations, according to Dow Jones Newswires, citing analysts.

Royal Mail PLC shares picked up 2.8% after Investec upgraded the company's rating to buy from reduce. The move comes after PostNL and private-equity firm LDC in April ended talks about expanding delivery company Whistl in Britain. The suspension of Whistl's service "represents a turning point in Royal Mail's investment case," and Royal Mail "will now deliver all of Whistl's access mail, returning around GBP10 million to revenues and a similar amount to operating profit," wrote Investec.

Babcock International Group PLC shares also rose 2.8%, after the engineering-and-defense services company raised its dividend by 10% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/babcock-lifts-dividend-10-as-yearly-profit-climbs-2015-05-18) and as its full-year pretax profit rose 43% to 313.1 million pounds ($492.4 million). Revenue climbed 20% to GBP4 billion.

But Lloyds shares fell 1% as Investec cut its rating on the bank to sell, from hold. Earlier in May, Lloyds shares became the top-performer on the FTSE 100 after a two-week surge in the wake of its first-quarter interim statement and the result of the May 7 U.K. general election, analyst Ian Gordon noted. Lloyd's first-quarter performance was "robust" but broadly in line with Investec's formerly above-consensus forecasts.

Among financials, banking firm Barclays PLC shares shed 0.2% and Royal Bank of Scotland PLC slipped 0.1%.

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