LONDON MARKETS: Metals Stocks Fall In London, But Weekly Rise For FTSE 100 In Sight

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks fell Friday, with mining stocks under pressure, but the FTSE 100 benchmark remained on track for a weekly rise.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.1% to 6,868.70.

Mining stocks lagged as prices for metals lost ground, with a modest pull back in gold (GCZ4) leaving futures near a 11-week low. Shares of Randgold Resources Ltd. fell 3.1%, headed for their fourth consecutive loss. Earlier this week, Deutsche Bank downgraded the gold producer to a hold from buy rating.

Precious-metals producer Fresnillo fell 1.9% and Rio Tinto gave up 0.9%.

Shares of BP (BP) were off 0.3% after the oil major said late Thursday it plans to appeal a ruling by a U.S. federal judge who found the company grossly negligent in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

BP shares on Thursday dropped 5.9%, the sharpest fall since June 2010, after the judge's decision was released.

Investors in the U.K. and across Europe were also keeping watch on any developments about a possible cease-fire agreement for eastern Ukraine, as well as figures from the U.S. Labor Department on the jobs market in August.

The FTSE 100 was looking at a weekly gain of 0.7%.

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