London close: Poor China data leads London lower

London stocks closed in the red on Tuesday, after gloomy data from China and a decline in oil prices drove commodity linked equities lower.

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.97% to 6,122.33 points, and the FTSE 250 shed 1.04% to 16,656.27.

The mining sector was among the worst-hit on Tuesday, thanks to its exposure from major metals-buyer China. Data from the country showed exports fell 25.4% year-on-year in February, much wider than the median expectation of 15%.

Imports also fell by 13.8%, which suggested an ongoing slowdown in domestic demand in the People's Republic.

"[This is the] kind of ugly reminder of China’s spluttering economy investors certainly don’t need at the moment, something that likely makes it even harder for [ECB president] Mario Draghi to provide the markets with something to cheer about on Thursday,” said Spreadex financial analyst Connor Campbell.

Platinum producer Anglo American slumped 15.24% to 532.4p, Antofagasta was down 10.13% to 532.5p, and iron ore giant BHP Billiton lost 8.57% in London to 820.9p.

Oil prices pulled back during the day, with Brent crude last down 1.85% to $40.07 and West Texas Intermediate down 2.46% to $36.99 per barrel.

That led to BP shares losing 3.39% to 353.15p, and Royal Dutch Shell shedding 1.19% to 1,654p in London.

On the upside, luxury brand Burberry rose 6.27% to 1,457p after the Financial Times reported that an unknown investor had built up a near 5% stake in the company.

The company had requested help from its financial advisers over concern at the potential for a takeover bid, the FT said.

Earlier in the day, Bank of England governor Mark Carney told the Treasury select committee that while there was a financial risk to Britain staying in the EU, leaving was a larger one. He stressed that the central bank was not making any formal recommendation on the Brexit debate.

In company news, payments processor Worldpay, which listed on the London Stock Exchange last year, was under the cosh despite saying it swung to a pre-tax profit of £19.1m in 2015 compared with a £47.1m loss the previous year. Credit Suisse said the results were solid and in line with consensus expectations but may struggle to match investor expectations going into the numbers.

Supermarket retailer Tesco rose as data from Kantar Worldpanel showed sales fell 0.8% in the 12 weeks to 28 February, which was a marked improvement from the 1.6% drop revealed a month earlier.

Fixed line telephone and broadband provider TalkTalk was also on the up, as CEO Dido Harding admitted that the security threat to the company was underestimated before a cyber attack last November. That attack cost the company 95,000 customers and more than £60m, with its share price more than halving from its 2015 peak by the end of last year.

Vedanta Resources was falling after Moody's downgraded the stock's corporate family rating to B2 from Ba2. It also downgraded the company's senior unsecured rating to Caa1 from B1, and said the outlook on all ratings was negative.

The pound was weaker against the greenback late in the day, and was last worth $1.4212.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,122.33 -0.97%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,656.27 -1.04%
techMARK (TASX) 3,099.80 -0.50%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,463.00p 6.71%
Tesco (TSCO) 195.45p 1.90%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,398.00p 1.67%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 943.00p 1.62%
Next (NXT) 6,655.00p 1.53%
CRH (CRH) 1,921.00p 1.05%
Capita (CPI) 1,029.00p 0.98%
National Grid (NG.) 949.70p 0.98%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,052.50p 0.90%
Unilever (ULVR) 3,108.00p 0.68%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Glencore (GLEN) 139.90p -18.07%
Anglo American (AAL) 533.30p -15.09%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 531.50p -10.30%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,021.00p -9.66%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 821.70p -8.48%
Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 276.00p -5.45%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 859.00p -4.13%
Fresnillo (FRES) 916.00p -3.73%
BP (BP.) 353.35p -3.34%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,938.00p -2.97%

FTSE 250 - Risers

TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 249.60p 4.79%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,604.00p 2.75%
John Laing Group (JLG) 219.00p 2.62%
Rank Group (RNK) 252.90p 2.55%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 929.00p 2.48%
NMC Health (NMC) 906.50p 2.31%
DFS Furniture (DFS) 314.20p 2.15%
Debenhams (DEB) 77.80p 2.03%
Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 133.90p 1.59%
John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd (JLIF) 118.00p 1.55%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Vedanta Resources (VED) 329.10p -13.67%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 205.60p -7.64%
Amec Foster Wheeler (AMFW) 460.60p -6.63%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,294.00p -6.50%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 194.80p -5.02%
Allied Minds (ALM) 350.00p -5.02%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 274.40p -4.99%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 636.00p -4.14%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 415.90p -3.82%
Rotork (ROR) 180.50p -3.73%