The London equities markets were down on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.5 percent to 5,725.1, while the FTSE 250 fell 0.1 percent to 9,240.7 on a trading volume of 3.6 billion shares.
Mining stocks were down on the day as metals prices continued to decline. Kazakhmys fell 3.8 percent to 819 ½p. Rio Tinto dropped 2.6 percent to £27.81. Antofagasta declined 3.2 percent to £20.13. Anglo-American was down not only on falling metals prices but also on a ratings cut from Citigroup, slipping from “buy” to “hold. Anglo-American fell 3.6 percent to £20.12.
Also down on the day was budget airline EasyJet, which fell 0.2 percent to 376 ½p even though the airline’s chief executive bought 134,000 shares at 374.17p each during the day.
Elsewhere, things seemed to be a bit better. Airport operator BAA gained 14.9 percent to 172 ½p when it was announced that Groupo Ferrovial of Spain was thinking about offering for the company. BAA said that it had not yet received an official bid.
GlaxoSmithKline gained 0.9 percent to £14.75 in anticipation of the pharmaceutical company’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings reports, which are due soon.
Household goods group Reckitt Benckiser was up on Tuesday’s release of a full-year earnings report that had overall earnings in line with predictions and margins, earnings, and cash flow metrics had all exceeded expectations. The company’s shares rose 2.2 percent on the day to £19.78.