FTSE down as oils, banks lead falls

By David Brett

LONDON (Reuters) - The top share index fell 1.1 percent early on Monday on concerns about the global economic outlook, with heavyweight oils, miners and banks leading the market lower.

By 9:21 a.m., the FTSE 100 .FTSE index was down 45.01 points at 4,191.27, after gaining 0.1 percent on Friday.

The index fell through the 4,200 level for the first time since late April. It has gained over 20 percent since touching a six-year low in March, but is still down 5.6 percent on the year.

"This is a trend we're likely to see throughout July," said Howard Wheeldon, strategist at BGC Partners.

"There is no new news out there on which anybody can set up a new stall to believe that recovery is very firmly the order of the day."

The FTSE was mainly a sea of red with oil majors weighing heaviest on the index as the price of crude hovered just above $65 a barrel, with traders selling on the back of mounting fears over the speed of economic recovery.

BG Group (BG.L), BP (BP.L), Cairn Energy (CNE.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Tullow Oil (TLW.L) fell between 1.8 and 2.5 percent.

The fall on London's blue-chip market reflected weak showings in Asia on Monday and the lack of a lead from Wall Street, closed on Friday for the long Independence Day holiday weekend.

Miners were also beaten down as the price of raw materials once again sagged.

Lonmin (LMI.L), Xstrata (XTA.L), Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) Anglo American (AAL.L) Rio Tinto (RIO.L), and BHP Billiton (BLT.L) dropped between 2.3 percent and 4.6 percent.

Rio Tinto (RIO.L) agreed on Monday to sell its Americas food-packaging assets for $1.2 billion to packaging group Bemis (BMS.N), raising yet more much-needed cash for the indebted miner.

Banks also bore the brunt of investor pessimism. RBS (RBS.L), Barclays BARC., Standard Chartered (STAN.L), HSBC (HSBA.L) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) retreated between 0.5 and 2.1 percent.

UKFI, the body in charge of Britain's stakes in some of its leading banks will this week downplay expectations of a quick sale of the shareholdings, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

DEFENSIVES RALLY

There were few blue-chip gainers but, among them, defensive attractions were to the fore, with pharmaceutical issues the top performing sector led by AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and Shire (SHP.L) both up 0.8 percent.