Reuters: Hot Stocks: Britain's FTSE extends losses ahead of uncertain Cyprus vote

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Britain's FTSE extends losses ahead of uncertain Cyprus vote Mar 19th 2013, 17:21 Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:21pm EDT * FTSE 100 falls 0.3 percent * Banks dip as president doubts Cyprus package passage * Miners hit by lower copper price, downgrades * FTSE seen at 6,750 by year-end - poll By Alistair Smout LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index fell on Tuesday, extending losses in afternoon trade as concerns that the Cypriot parliament will reject a bailout package hit banks and weighed on sentiment. Banks closed 0.9 percent lower, shaving 10 points off the index after a subdued morning's trade, with the Cypriot President telling reporters that he expected the parliament to reject a bill that it saw as unjust. "I was amazed how sanguine the markets were this morning, but now with reports that no-one will vote for it, it's a mess," one trader said. "Without the vote there's no bailout at all, and it's the banks which are bearing the brunt of that." Miners also extended their morning weakness as investors shunned cyclical stocks, which rise with optimism over the economy. Four of the top five fallers were miners. The sector dropped 3.4 percent following broker downgrades and top executives of blue-chip firms warning of softer prices as growth in China's steel production slows. Weak demand from China combined with fears of contagion from Cyprus to send copper prices to a four month low. "Copper fell to new lows today, which is hitting the miners, and there are real concerns about the price moving forward which will continue to weigh," Myrto Sokou, analyst at Sucden Private Financial Clients, said. "The problems in the euro zone are apparent, but the bigger surprise is this weakening in demand from China." Global miner Rio Tinto was the top FTSE faller, dropping 5.2 percent. Rio and BHP Billiton, which fell 3.5 percent, suffered as Goldman Sachs reduced its iron ore price forecasts and cut its recommendations on the firms to "sell" and "neutral". Mexican miner Fresnillo was also among the top losers, falling 3.4 percent after Deutsche Bank cut the stock to "sell" from "hold". The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 0.3 percent lower, down 16.60 points, to 6,441.32 points, 1.4 percent lower than the 5-year highs hit last week. Although the FTSE 100 has enjoyed a strong start to the year, rising 9.2 percent, a stellar performance by UK top shares this quarter is expected to wane over 2013, a Reuters poll showed. The FTSE 100 is seen at 6,582 by mid-2013, barely scaling last week's five-year highs, before adding 4.5 percent by the end of the year to rise to 6,750. (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions