MW:Miners up, oil and tobacco fall in choppy London
Europe stocks extend post-ECB gains
By Preeti Upadhyaya, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch)—The main U.K. index was nearly flat in early trade on Friday, as miners and banks extended gains triggered by the previous day’s policy announcements from the European Central Bank, while tobacco and oil firms lost ground.
The FTSE 100 UK:UKX +0.02% hovered near the flat line at 5,780.58.
Thursday’s announcement from the ECB about plans for an unlimited bond-buying plan sent European stocks rallying. See: Europe stocks continue rally after ECB bond plan
Commodity firm Glencore International PLC UK:GLEN -1.19% dropped 1.5% after announcing it has requested to temporarily suspend shares on the London Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange. See:Glencore adjourns meeting, seeks share suspension
In London, miners led the upward movement with Xstrata PLC UK:XTA +5.77% climbing 4.6% and Kazakhmys PLC UK:KAZ +4.17% up 3.8%.
Vedanta Resources PLC UK:VED +4.06% picked up 3.7% and Rio Tinto PLC UK:RIO +3.60% RIO +5.10% AU:RIO +4.43% added 3.2%.
Antofagasta PLC UK:ANTO +3.80% advanced 2.9% and Anglo American PLC UK:AAL +2.99% moved up 2.6%.
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. PLC UK:ENRC +2.64% took on 2% and BHP Billiton PLC UK:BLT +1.85% BHP +2.79% traded 1.5% higher.
Metal prices were mixed.
Steel firm Evraz PLC UK:EVR +11.56% shot up 9.5%.
Banks were also on the move, with Barclays PLC UK:BARC +3.89% BCS +6.86% moving up 3.8% and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC UK:RBS +2.66% RBS +5.19% added 3.2%. HSBC Holdings PLC UK:HSBA +0.92% HBC +2.74% was up 0.7%.
Tobacco firms added pressure to the FTSE, with British American Tobacco PLC UK:BATS -2.70% and Imperial Tobacco Group PLC UK:IMT -2.18% both slipped 2.4%.
Oil giant BP PLC UK:BP -1.06% BP +2.03% shed 0.9%, while peer firm Royal Dutch Shell PLC UK:RDSB -0.20% RDS.B +2.48% fell 0.2%.
Oil prices were up.
Among other notable losers, Vodafone Group PLC UK:VOD -0.81% VOD +0.87% retreated 1% and
