LONDON MARKETS: U.K. Stocks Trade Lower As Resource Firms Fall

By Preeti Upadhyaya, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The main U.K. stock index traded lower on Monday, as resource firms weighed heavily on stocks.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 5,828.22, partly erasing a 1% gain from last week.

Miners led the index lower with Vedanta Resources PLC dropping 2.8% and Kazakhmys PLC 2.1% lower. Anglo American PLC fell 1.7% and Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. PLC shed 1.7%. Heavyweight Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) fell 1.1%, while BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) eased 1.2%.

Metal prices were mostly lower.

Also on the move down, Petrofac Ltd slumped 5.5%, even after reporting a 32% increase in net profit for the first half of the year. The oil-services firm, however, said second-half profit will be lower than in the first six months.

Oil firm BG Group PLC slipped 0.8% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) eased 0.4%. BP PLC (BP) dropped 0.5%.

Oil prices were, however, moving higher.

Further weighing on the index, banking major HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) dropped 0.3% and pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) slipped 0.6%.

Moving in the other direction, Standard Chartered PLC picked up 1.4%.

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