LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's blue chip shares fell on Wednesday in very light trade as uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy and the next moves by central banks prompted many investors to stick to the sidelines.
Miners were the standout fallers, off 2.2 percent, weighed down by a drop in the copper price.
Global growth worries affected demand expectations for the metal, especially with official August PMI data from top metals consumer China, due on Saturday, expected to hit a nine-month low.
Commodities trader Glencore was the biggest laggard, sliding 4 percent, having been the top FTSE 100 riser on Tuesday. Its takeover target Xstrata shed 1.6 percent.
A Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has opposed the terms of Glencore's proposed $30 billion takeover of the miner, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, without citing sources.
Norway joins Qatar, whose own sovereign wealth fund investment arm demanded improved terms and threatened to vote against the deal.
Both Glencore and Xstrata shares also traded without entitlement to their latest dividend payments on Wednesday.
The FTSE 100 ended down 32.18 points, or 0.6 percent, at 5,743.53, after closing 0.02 percent lower on Tuesday, in volume at just 66 percent of the 90-day daily average.
"There's a risk of a bit more downside slippage," Lynnden Branigan, technical analyst at Barclays, said.
"We're heading towards a former congestion range below 5,700, so in terms of an initial target it's somewhere between the 5,725 and 5,715 area - the former range highs."
FED AHEAD
Investors will closely watch U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the end of the week at an annual get-together that often hints at forthcoming monetary policy moves.
Some analysts were doubtful the meeting would amount to much, particularly in light of the fact European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi will not attend due to a heavy workload as he gears up for a critical policymaking meeting on September 6.
"The fact that Europeans aren't there makes us believe that potentially there won't be a coordinated response ... so it's a less powerful response," Richard Batty, investment director for multi-asset investing at Standard Life Investments, which has 157.6 billion pounds of assets under management.
"It makes us suspicious that there is still a lot of work to do. The danger of that is that we're only a week away from a potential (ECB) announcement and they haven't yet sorted things out, which makes us a little nervous."
Paul Kavanagh, a partner at Killik & Co, said: "There's obviously a lot of focus on (Jackson Hole), but we think it may prove to be a little bit of a damp squib ... I don't think (the market) is priced for huge amounts of new information."
Among gainers, Reed Elsevier added 1.9 percent, topping the blue-chip leader board, after JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded its rating for the Anglo-Dutch publishing group to overweight with an increased target price of 675 pence.
Serco, meanwhile, advanced 0.6 percent, as the outsourcing group said recent contract wins would help it deliver a strong full-year performance, after reorganisation costs and delays in the award of U.S. federal work pushed first-half profit down 17 percent.
"Half-year results from Serco were in line with expectations ... We believe this guidance is achievable, supported by recent contract wins," Seymour Pierce said in a note.
Volume in Serco shares, at 131 percent of the 90-day daily average, was solid relative to overall trading turnover on the exchange.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/miners-drag-ftse-down-global-growth-concerns-072156536--sector.html
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