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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