By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks turned slightly lower
Tuesday, with Barclays PLC pulled lower, but a gain for home
builder Taylor Wimpey PLC helped cushion a decline in the benchmark
FTSE 100.
The FTSE 100 slipped 0.1% to 6,934.51, in part as financial
shares traded lower. The index is still hovering near its best
levels in more than 15 years.
Barclays shares dropped 3.2%. The firm said fines and legal
costs pushed it to a net loss of 174 million pounds
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/barclays-posts-net-loss-on-fines-legal-costs-2015-03-03)
($267.4 million) for the year, as it set aside an extra GBP750
million in provision for an investigation into foreign-exchange
markets.
"The bank may be at its strongest 'since the financial crisis'
but the fines and provisions have detracted from the company's
balance sheet," David Madden, market analyst at IG, wrote in a
note. "Barclays' capital structure isn't under question, and as
long as legal costs loom over the bank the share price will remain
restricted."
Elsewhere in the banking group, shares of Royal Bank of Scotland
PLC fell 1.3%, Lloyds PLC shed 0.3% as did Standard Chartered PLC ,
but HSBC PLC (HSBC) edged up 0.2%.
Also driving lower, Glencore PLC shares fell 2% although miner
swung to a net profit of $2.31 billion for 2014
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/glencore-returns-to-profit-despite-commodity-slump-2015-03-03)
and proposed a dividend increase of 9%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/glencore-raises-dividend-as-trading-profit-gains-2015-03-03).
The investment case for Glencore is "relatively positive due to
the company's free cash flow profile, improving balance sheet,
commodity exposure, and resilient marketing business" and a nearly
25% climb in the shares since mid-January "reflects some of these
strengths", said analysts at Jefferies. They also said
profit-taking in the near-term wouldn't be surprising as the shares
trade around 30 times spot price-earnings ratio, and that near-term
weakness would be an opportunity to buy at a more attractive
level.
The FTSE 100 had earlier Tuesday held to higher ground after
data firm Markit said U.K. construction activity in February logged
the biggest pace of expansion in four months, driven by strength in
new orders. The Markit/CIPS construction purchasing managers' index
rose to 60.1 from 59.1 in January.
"Housing, commercial and civil engineering activity all expanded
at the quickest rates since last October, helped by sharp rises in
new business volumes and an improving economic backdrop," said Tim
Moore, senior economist at Markit, in a statement. Moore did add
that some construction companies indicated uncertainty about the
outcome of the U.K. general election in May "could prove a
temporary bump in the road for new work, as some clients had sought
to delay spending decisions."
Home builder Taylor Wimpey told shareholders on Tuesday that
it's in a solid position for 2015 with an order book of 1.66
billion pounds ($2.55 billion). Shares rose 0.6% as the company
also posted a 53% climb in full-year pretax profit.
Also higher were shares of Tullow Oil as they climbed 4.1%. The
restored a portion of their nearly 8% loss on Monday, when they
came under pressure on speculation the drop in the oil producer's
market capitalization will result in it exiting the FTSE 100.
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