MW: British shares decline as commodity firms slide
FTSE 100 index down 0.6%; Lloyds Banking Group returns to profit
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Commodity-sector firms pressured the top British share index on Tuesday, with miners trading sharply lower and oil giant BP also declining.
The FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,730, -23.48, -0.41%) declined 0.6%, or 31.22 points, to 5,722.72. Other European shares were also lower while Chinese shares traded sharply lower as investors worried that further policy tightening in the country will choke off growth in that economy. Read Europe Markets. Read Asia markets.
China is a major customer of many European-headquartered mining companies, and Rio Tinto (UK:RIO 3,718, -86.00, -2.26%) (RTP 234.31, +1.44, +0.62%) declined 2.3%, and Antofagasta (UK:ANTO 1,038, -26.00, -2.44%) fell 3%.
As well, the dollar gained against the euro and sterling on Tuesday amid continued worries about the fiscal health of peripheral euro-zone countries, pressuring futures on copper and on light sweet crude oil.
It reported a more than doubling in first-quarter replacement-cost profit, to $5.6 billion from $2.4 billion a year earlier and also said it's buying the Norwegian North Sea assets of Total for $991 million.
Continuing with earnings, shares of technology firm ARM Holdings (UK:ARM 255.80, -2.80, -1.08%) lost 1.4%, retracting some gains made in recent weeks.
Its first-quarter profit doubled to 19.6 million British pounds ($30 million) from 9.8 million pounds in the year-ago period. Revenue increased to 92.3 million pounds from 79.9 million pounds.
