LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.K. oil, gas and mining equities continued their steady, steep decline Friday, outpacing the rest of the equities market due to perceived risk that these stocks are more vulnerable to a downturn in the global economy. The U.K.'s FTSE 350 Basic Resources index, which tracks oil, gas and mining equities, fell 3% from Thursday, broadly in line with the FTSE 100 index, which tracks the U.K.'s top 100 listed companies, which was down 2.9%. Over the past week the FTSE 350 Basic Resources index has fallen nearly 14% while the FTSE 100 has only fallen slightly more than 9%. Among the bell-weather resource stocks, Anglo-Australian mining titan BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP), was down 2.4% on the day while oil major BP PLC (BP) dropped 3.4%. Investors are selling out asset classes such as equities, bonds, and commodities due to risk aversion over the state of global economic growth and parking their money in safe-havens such as gold. Investors are concerned about slower U.S. economic growth, fears of European Union's sovereign debt woes spreading to more countries, and slower growth in Asia as China tightens its monetary policy to curb inflation. Analysts were mixed on whether the equities sell-off might soon result in an upward correction or might augur a downturn in the global economy. The drop in mining equities hasn't been replicated in base metal prices for instance, two analysts said. Benchmark copper prices on the London Metal Exchange are down 6.6% over the past week at $9,196.25 a metric ton. Andy Davidson, equity analyst at Numis Securities, noted it was reminiscent of a similar event in 2008 when mining equities dropped ahead of metals on expectations that the financial crisis would take its toll on the global economy. On the other hand, this week's steep sell off might correct itself since demand in emerging markets, particularly China, the world's largest consumer of many commodities, remains robust. "I would suggest that it looks like the stocks have been oversold and may catch up again" to metal prices, he said. He said mining stocks are largely plays on Chinese economic growth prospects. Slower Chinese economic growth has been well-flagged and there hasn't been additional news to show that the slowdown is worse than expected. U.K. oil and gas equities are also down in line with a fall in crude oil prices and risk aversion sentiment, said Tim Hurst-Brown, an oil analyst at Mirabaud Securities. "The drop in oil equities is due to oil prices and selling winners," stocks that have performed well over the past year he said. BG Group PLC (BG.LN), which is up 24% on the year, is down 12.5% on the week at 1263p. Meanwhile crude oil is down 10.2% on the week at $87.21 a barrel.

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