Reuters: Hot Stocks: Mining stocks lead Britain's FTSE index lower

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Mining stocks lead Britain's FTSE index lower Aug 19th 2013, 15:06 Mon Aug 19, 2013 11:06am EDT * FTSE 100 down 0.5 pct in late session * Miners slip as price of copper eases * Glencore Xstrata hit by expectations of writedown * Expectations of Fed tapering also hit equities By Sudip Kar-Gupta LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - A decline in major mining stocks pushed Britain's benchmark index lower on Monday, while persistent concerns of a reduction in U.S. monetary stimulus measures also hit share prices. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down 0.5 percent, or 35.19 points, at 6,464.80 points in late trading, continuing a pull-back that last week saw the FTSE's biggest one-day fall in nearly two months. The fall in heavyweight mining stocks took the most points off the index. The FTSE 350 Mining Index shed 2.3 percent as the price of copper eased after three weeks of gains, while miner Glencore Xstrata fell on expectations of a write-down on its assets. The FTSE 100 raced to a 13-year high of 6,875.62 points in late May but has since slipped back, tracking a fall in global equity markets due to expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve may start to scale back its stimulus measures next month. The Fed's monthly bond purchases, which had pushed down bond yields and led investors to seek better returns in equities, have driven much of the global equity rally this year. However, bond yields have risen over the last month due to growing expectations that the Fed may start to slow the pace of those bond purchases next month. Securequity sales trader Jawaid Afsar said he expected the FTSE to fall until the next Federal Reserve meeting next month. "There is nothing compelling to buy the market here," he said. Afsar said he would only buy back into the FTSE 100 if it fell to the level of its 200-day simple moving average, which stands at around 6,294 points and is often seen by technical traders as a level at which buyers will step into the market. The FTSE 100 is still up around 10 percent since the start of 2013, and EGR Broking managing director Kyri Kangellaris also said now was a good time to take a profit on that run up. "If you've got any profits on the table, take them off," he said. (additional reporting by David Brett; editing by Tom Pfeiffer) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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