LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Eases From Record, With BHP Hurt After Downgrade

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks fell Monday, backing off from record highs, with some mining stocks struggling following a downgrade of the iron-ore sector.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.2% to 7,073.07. The blue-chips index on Friday closed up 1.1% at 7,089.77 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-at-record-high-as-shire-property-stocks-gain-2015-04-10), a record closing high.

Among Monday's decliners, BHP Billiton shares fell 2.1% after Citi pulled its rating on the mining heavyweight to neutral from buy and moved it off its European focus list. "One concern with BHP is cash-flow generation where further cuts to capex will be required to prevent debt rising further, particularly after the reduction in cash-flow generation after the S32 demerger," said the Citi analysts.

The BHP move comes as Citi cut its stance on the iron-ore sector to neutral from bullish, in line with major forecast revisions by Citi's commodity team.

   Shares of mining firm Rio Tinto  were off 0.6%, and Anglo American PLC   lost 0.8%. 

Also lower were shares of Pearson PLC as Jefferies downgraded the publishing firm to underperform from buy, as "[r]ecent performance has taken the stock to a lofty multiple."

But advancers included precious-metals miner Fresnillo PLC and energy-engineering company Weir Group PLC , which gained 2.8% and 1.2%, respectively.

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