London - Britain's top share index retreated from an eight-week high on Thursday, with mining shares falling the most after a survey showed growth in China's vast factory sector stalled in November.
The broader stock market came under further pressure after another survey showed Germany's private sector had grown at the slowest rate in 16 months in November as manufacturing stagnated and services lost momentum, signalling a weak fourth quarter for Europe's largest economy.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.3 percent to 6 674.89 points by 10:48 SA time, after rising to its highest level since late September in the previous session.
The UK mining index dropped 1.6 percent, the biggest sectoral decliner, after the flash HSBC/Markit China manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to a six-month low and slightly below analysts' forecasts.
China is the world's biggest metals consumer.
“It's not surprising that the market is reacting to weak commodity prices and disappointing Chinese data,” Henk Potts, director of global research at Barclays, said.
“China has been the key influence in commodity markets over the course of the past 15 to 20 years, but the country is slowly going through a transition, moving away from being a manufacturing powerhouse. Its influence on commodity markets is likely to diminish.”
Global miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton both fell about 2 percent.
Among other sharp movers, the world's largest autocatalyst maker Johnson Matthey rose 4.2 percent after posting a small increase in half-year profits, thanks to strong autocatalysts sales, and lifting its profit forecast for the year.
British engineering and support services firm Babcock rose 2.9 percent after reaffirming its full-year profit outlook and raising its dividend after posting a 32 percent rise in underlying first-half pretax profit.
FTSE 100 companies going ex-dividend on Thursday included Carnival, National Grid, Sainsbury and Vodafone Group.
The effect of the resulting adjustment to prices by market makers would take between 8.20 and 8.80 points off the index. - Reuters