By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks fell Monday, backing off
from record highs, with some mining stocks struggling following a
downgrade of the iron-ore sector.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.2% to 7,073.07. The blue-chips index on
Friday closed up 1.1% at 7,089.77
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-at-record-high-as-shire-property-stocks-gain-2015-04-10),
a record closing high.
Among Monday's decliners, BHP Billiton shares fell 2.1% after
Citi pulled its rating on the mining heavyweight to neutral from
buy and moved it off its European focus list. "One concern with BHP
is cash-flow generation where further cuts to capex will be
required to prevent debt rising further, particularly after the
reduction in cash-flow generation after the S32 demerger," said the
Citi analysts.
The BHP move comes as Citi cut its stance on the iron-ore sector
to neutral from bullish, in line with major forecast revisions by
Citi's commodity team.
Shares of mining firm Rio Tinto were off 0.6%, and Anglo American PLC lost 0.8%.
Also lower were shares of Pearson PLC as Jefferies downgraded
the publishing firm to underperform from buy, as "[r]ecent
performance has taken the stock to a lofty multiple."
But advancers included precious-metals miner Fresnillo PLC and
energy-engineering company Weir Group PLC , which gained 2.8% and
1.2%, respectively.
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