By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.K.’s benchmark stock index showed little moves on Friday, after retail sales for the country unexpectedly dropped in January and precious-mining firms declined after a round of broker downgrades. The FTSE 100 index UK:UKX +0.28% inched 0.1% higher to 6,331.70. Shares of precious-metals miners were among biggest decliners, after a round of ratings downgrades by Citigroup. Shares of Randgold Resources Ltd. UK:RRS -3.79% dropped 3.6% and Fresnillo PLC UK:FRES -5.20% dropped 4.9% as ratings on both U.K. miners were slashed to sell from neutral, while Petropavlovsk PLC UK:POG -5.31% shaved off 5.1% as it was cut to neutral from buy. Pointing in the other direction, shares of Anglo American PLC UK:AAL +2.01% rose 1.4%, after the miner’s chief executive Cynthia Carroll said she sees a better 2013 after a challenging 2012. See: Anglo American CEO expects better year in 2013 Retailers were also on the decline, on the back of disappointing retail sales for the U.K. Retail sales for January suffered 0.6%, hurt by heavy snowfall that deterred shoppers from hitting the stores. “However, it’s clear that it’s not just snow that’s to blame for falling sales, and that there has been a marked downward trend in consumer demand in recent months. Sales have now fallen for four straight months,� said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, in a note. “With real incomes having fallen back to level of 10 years ago ,according to official data, it’s likely that the retail environment will remain subdued in coming months,� he added. Shares of Marks & Spencer Group PLC UK:MKS -0.72% lost 0.8%, Tesco PLC UK:TSCO -1.13% TESO +2.00% fell 1.2% and Next PLC UK:NXT -0.31% slipped 0.1%. Shares of Tate & Lyle PLC UK:TATE -2.12% dropped 2.1%, as Exane BNP Paribas cut the food-ingredient firm to neural from outperform. Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter based in London. Follow her on Twitter @sarasjolin.

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