* Steepest one-day decline in six weeks
* Miners biggest fallers, hurt by weaker metals prices
* Banks hit by Greek debt fears
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index posted
its steepest one-day decline in six weeks on Thursday, pressured
by miners hit by weaker metals prices, and banks on revived
concern over Greece's debt.
The FTSE 100 <> closed 49.36 points, or 0.9 percent,
lower at 5,712.70, its lowest close since March 31, after it
shed 0.3 percent on Wednesday.
"Obviously Greece is still on everyone's mind because that
hasn't been sorted out, and weak commodity stocks, which
obviously have a very big weight on the FTSE, are going to pull
the index down," said Mark Priest, senior equities trader at ETX
Capital.
Miners took the most points off the index, with Xstrata
<XTA.L>, Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L> and Kazakhmys
<KAZ.L> the worst off, dropping 2.9 to 3.8 percent.
It was a similar story with energy stocks which fell as
crude prices <CLc1> were hurt by the stronger dollar and a rise
in U.S. crude stockpiles to their highest level in nearly 10
months.
BP <BP.L>, Cairn Energy <CNE.L> and Royal Dutch Shell
<RDSa.L> slipped 0.3 to 0.8 percent.
Disappointing U.S. jobless claims data also affected market
sentiment. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits
unexpectedly rose 18,000 to 460,000, the Labor Department said.
Economists expected claims to edge down to 435,000.
Markets pounded Greek bonds and banking stocks on Thursday,
driving the debt-stricken euro zone member's borrowing costs to
new highs and pushing it closer to tapping a last resort EU/IMF
safety net. []
Risk sensitive UK bank stocks fell, with Barclays <BARC.L>,
HSBC <HSBA.L>, Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L>, Royal Bank of
Scotland <RBS.L> and Standard Chartered <STAN.L> off 0.1 to 3
percent.
As expected, the Bank of England kept interest rates at a
record low of 0.5 percent and made no increase to its 200
billion pound asset-buying scheme to boost the economy, and the
European Central Bank left rates unchanged. []
[]
"The Bank of England result has no bearing at all on the
fact we are down, it is more we are in a period of
consolidation," said Andrew Bell, chief executive of the Witan
Investment Trust.
"People think we need a pause for breath rather than chasing
the market after a 10 percent rally since a low in February."
British Airways <BAY.L> was a bright spot in an otherwise
gloomy day, adding 2.9 percent and topping the blue-chip leader
board. BA and Spain's Iberia <IBLA.MC> signed an $8 billion
merger to create the world's third-largest airline, bringing a
three-way tie-up with American Airlines <AMR.N> a step closer.
(Additional reporting by Simon Falush; editing by Simon Jessop)
