By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks turned lower Thursday as
investors fretted about the health of the global economy following
disappointing U.S. jobless-claims data, though shares of chip maker
ARM Holdings PLC and and British Airways made gains.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.4% at 6,019.51.
The benchmark spent most of the session in positive territory
but stumbled in late trading after data showed the number of
Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits rose and as
investors nervously awaited the release of key U.S. nonfarm-payroll
numbers on Friday.
The top decliners on the FTSE 100 all belonged to the commodity
and financial sectors. Silver miner Fresnillo PLC declined 5.3%,
followed by Indian energy company Essar Energy, down 3.3%; and
miners Antofagasta PLC and African Barrick Gold PLC , both down
3.1%.
Antofagasta was downgraded to reduce from buy at Nomura
Securities, which cited a lack of catalysts for further gains.
Shares of Antofagasta have more than doubled in price since
July.
In the oil sector, shares of BP PLC (BP) weakened 0.5%. A report
by a U.S. presidential commission on the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil
spill released late Wednesday found that BP wasn't the only firm to
blame for the disaster and identified systemic issues.
Among financial stocks, fund manager Man Group PLC declined 2%,
Lloyds Banking Group slumped 1.9% and Royal Bank of Scotland Group
fell 1.1%.
Helping set a bearish tone for financials, Belgium's KBC Group
said it will take further provisions on its Irish loan portfolio
due to a deterioration in market conditions over the last couple of
months. Both Lloyds and RBS have significant Irish loan
portfolios.
KBC also said it has identified internal "irregularities" at a
U.K. unit.
ARM shines
A top riser in the main index was ARM Holdings , shares of which
gained 2.3% after Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said the next version of
its Windows operating system will support ARM's chips.
The move will help Microsoft compete in the growing market for
tablet PCs, in which ARM has a 95% market share.
Royal Bank of Scotland analyst Didier Scemama said he expects
Microsoft's support for ARM chips will also allow the U.K. company
to build a 15% share in the market for notebook processors by 2014,
from its current level of 0%.
The gains came after the stock rallied nearly 8% on Wednesday on
the back of media reports that Intel Corp. (INTC) could launch a
takeover bid.
In the airline sector, British Airways rallied 4.4%.
The carrier reported an 8.3% drop in passenger traffic, measured
in revenue passenger kilometers, in December following bad weather
that heavily disrupted operations at several key airports. Overall,
British Airways said the heavy snowfall will cost it around 50
million pounds ($77 million).
Retailers had a mixed session. Among smaller stores, shares of
Clinton Cards PLC dropped nearly 11%, skidding as bad weather over
the Christmas period resulted in a drop in comparable sales.
Similarly, Mothercare said the cold snap would result in its
results falling short of previous expectations, sending the stock
down 5.5%.
HMV Group , the CD and DVD retailer, dropped sharply for a
second straight session, falling 7.7% following Wednesday's warning
over weak sales.
On the positive side, clothing retailer Marks & Spencer
Group rose 3.5%, extending its rally since the start of the year as
trading updates from rival clothing retailers have generally been
more positive than those from the rest of the retail sector.