London stocks teeter toward sixth straight decline

U.K. stocks dropped Tuesday, pulling the benchmark FTSE 100 toward a sixth consecutive loss.

The FTSE 100 UKX, -0.29% fell 0.3% to 6,529.48.

Most mining shares, which have been battered in recent sessions in part on concerns about Chinese demand, traded lower. Iron ore producer BHP Billiton PLC BLT, -1.10% BHP, -1.85% was off 0.8%, and Rio Tinto PLC RIO, -0.67% RIO, -0.91% fell 1%.

But Glencore PLC GLEN, +1.09% was up 1.1% after the stock dropped to its lowest-ever close on Monday. The mining heavyweight’s first-half results will be released on Wednesday.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSB, -0.52% RDS.B, -0.65% shares were off 0.2% as oil prices CLU5, -0.79% fell nearly 1%. The British oil major on Monday was granted final approval to drill in the Arctic Ocean for oil and natural gas.

But moving higher was Persimmon PSN, -1.37% up 1.3% after the home builder posted a 31% rise in pretax profit in the first half of the year, aided by growth in sales volumes and prices.

The pound GBPUSD, +0.0257% traded at $1.5568 versus $1.5616 ahead of U.K. inflation data for July, due at 9:30 a.m. London time. Analysts polled by FactSet expect, on average, a flat reading from the year-earlier period. The Consumer Prices Index was unchanged in June, down from a rise of 0.1% the previous month.

Source: MarketWatch