LONDON MARKETS: Miners Drop In London After Weak China PMI

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch)--Mining firms dipped in London on Thursday after data showed factory activity in China fell to a three-month low in August, stoking concerns about the world's second-largest economy's future demand for commodities.

Most of the top five decliners in the U.K.'s benchmark stock index were mining firms, with shares of Anglo American PLC off 1.3%, Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) down 0.7% and BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) 0.4% lower.

Precious-metals companies Fresnillo PLC and Randgold Resources Ltd. slid 3.6% and 1.9% respectively, as gold and silver posted sharp losses.

The losses for the mining sector came after HSBC's manufacturing purchasing managers index for China fell to 50.3 in August, compared with a final reading of 51.7 in July, signaling that the pace of growth at Chinese factories is slowing.

For the overall U.K. market, the FTSE 100 index climbed 0.3% to close at 6,777.66, rising with the broader European market.

Helping lift the benchmark, AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) gained 3% after it entered into a strategic partnership with Illumina Inc. (ILMN) to develop a cancer-test system.

Shares of Schroders PLC picked up 2.7% after HSBC lifted the asset manager to overweight from neutral.

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