FTSE ends down 1.2 pct

By Dominic Lau

LONDON (Reuters) - The blue chip share index ended down 1.2 percent on Wednesday, as confidence of a quick global economic recovery ebbed, with commodity stocks down on weaker raw material prices but drugmakers and telecoms gaining.

The FTSE 100 .FTSE closed 50.11 points lower at 4,278.46, after putting on 0.1 percent on Tuesday to break a two-session losing run.

Volumes on the benchmark were about 91 percent of its 90-day average daily volume.

"The key thing is that there is a complete lack of clarity as to the state of the underlying economy both here and in the America," said Tim Whitehead, head of portfolio strategist at Leeds-based Redmayne-Bentley.

"Although it would be nice to call a bottom of the economic nadir, we are not there yet. We have no evidence to support a sustained market rally from here."

He said he expected the market to trade in a range until after August when many fund mangers returned from holiday.

Miners were the biggest drag on the index, although metal prices recovered earlier losses to trade up in the afternoon.

Antofagasta (ANTO.L), Lonmin (LMI.L), Xstrata (XTA.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L), Kazakhmys (KAZ.L), Vedanta Resources (VED.L) and Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L) fell 6.5 percent to 10.2 percent.

Softer crude also hurt oil producers, with BP (BP.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), BG Group (BG.L) and Cairn Energy (CNE.L) losing between 0.8 and 3.6 percent.

European shares .GDAXI .FCHI also ended sharply lower.

U.S. consumer prices edged up in May on higher petroleum prices, but fell over the past 12 months by the most since 1950, in a sign that inflation was no threat for now as the country fights recession.

In the UK, the number of Britons claiming jobless benefit rose less than expected in May but the rise was still enough to push the unemployment rate to its highest in more than a decade.

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Sainsbury (SBRY.L) was among the heaviest fallers on the FTSE 100, down 5.7 percent. The country's third largest grocer raised about 432 million pounds to accelerate its expansion, as it posted first-quarter sales at the top end of expectations.

The move to place new shares and convertible bonds also dragged on peers WM Morrison (MRW.L) and Tesco (TSCO.L), which fell 1.7 and 1.6 percent respectively.