LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Slammed By Growth Fears, Oil Rout

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

Randgold lifts dividends, stock leaps 13%

U.K. stocks took another beating on Monday, as fears of slower global economic growth and continued jitters in the oil market punched investor sentiment.

The FTSE 100 index tumbled 2.7% to close at 5,689.36, for a second straight session in red. U.S. stocks also tumbled (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2016/02/08/stock-market-live-blog-slammed-by-oil-plunge-techs-extend-selloff/).

The index ended last week (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-stocks-wobble-as-miners-lose-hold-on-gains-2016-02-05) down 3.9%, its largest weekly slide since early January, after a mixed U.S. jobs report, jitters in the oil market and a dovish Bank of England quarterly inflation report.

Read: OECD indicators: Slowdowns ahead for Japan, U.S (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oecd-indicators-slowdowns-ahead-for-japan-us-2016-02-08).

Those concerns lingered in Monday's trade, with a slightly higher open overruled by a renewed selloff in oil. West Texas Intermediate crude oil slumped more than 1% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-pops-above-31-a-barrel-as-traders-keep-close-watch-on-the-dollar-2016-02-08) and briefly dipped below $30 a barrel.

Shares of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) (RDSB.LN) lost 1%, BG Group PLC (BG.LN) fell 0.5%, and Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN) slid 6%. BP PLC (BP.LN) (BP.LN) gave up 1.9%.

It was a brighter trading day for some shares in the mining sector, however. Shares of Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS.LN) (RRS.LN) rose to the top of the London benchmark, up 13%, marking its biggest one-day jump since 2009 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/randgold-lifts-dividend-after-record-output-2016-02-08). The rally came after the West African miner said it's lifting its dividend on the back of record output. The stock was also boosted by a 3% rally in gold prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-jumps-to-near-4-month-high-as-investors-turn-to-safety-2016-02-08).

Fresnillo PLC (FRES.LN), another precious-metals miner, jumped 7.8%.

Among other movers, shares of Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (RR.LN) (RR.LN) dropped 2.7% ahead of its earnings report due Friday. The aerospace and defense company is tipped to announce a dividend cut, said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, in a note.

BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) fell 4.4% after the telecom company said it's looking for a new finance director (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bt-on-hunt-for-new-finance-chief-2016-02-08) to succeed Tony Chanmugam.

HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.LN) (HSBA.LN) (HSBA.LN) lost 4.2% after British newspaper the Telegraph reported the bank is expected to decide this week (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/hsba/12145047/HSBC-to-stay-in-London-as-board-meets-for-final-decision-on-HQ.html) whether to move its headquarters outside the U.K.

Read:Why a selloff in European banks is ominous (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-a-selloff-in-european-banks-is-ominous-2016-02-07)

Outside the main U.K. stock benchmark, shares of Imagination Technologies Group PLC (IMG.LN) fell 1.9% after the supplier to Apple Inc. (AAPL) warned it will report a loss for the full year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-supplier-imagination-tech-warns-of-loss-2016-02-08).

On the data front, the BDO business optimism index showed business confidence in the U.K. has fallen to a three-year low (http://www.bdo.co.uk/press/business-confidence-falls-to-three-year-low), fueled partly by uncertainty over the upcoming vote on Britain's EU membership.

Investing Insights: A global markets survival guide

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 08, 2016 12:04 ET (17:04 GMT)

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