LONDON (ShareCast) - - PMIs disappoint from China and Eurozone
- Miners down on demand concerns, Randgold plummets on Malian military coup
- Broker downgrades weigh on stocks

The Footsie was firmly lower by lunchtime as a result of heavy losses in the mining sector on the back of some gloomy economic data from China.

Chinese factory activity registered an even worse contraction in March as manufacturing hit a four-month low. The flash HSBC Manufacturing PMI for this month fell back to 48.1 from the 49.6 registered in February. This is its lowest level since last November. Readings below 50 imply a contraction. Commenting on the survey, Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC said: “Weakening domestic demand continued to weigh on growth, as indicated by a slowdown in new orders which came in at a four-month low. External demand remained in contraction territory, but the decline was at a slower pace, implying that there are no improvements in the demand outlook."

Further dampening sentiment this morning was manufacturing data from the Eurozone, which showed that the single-currency region remains in recessionary territory. The Eurozone's preliminary manufacturing PMI fell to a three-month low in March to 47.7 from the previous 49.0.

In other news, the OECD said it sees the need for the Eurozone to create a one trillion euro safety net in order to stop the debt crisis contagion, according to a Swiss newspaper.

RANDGOLD LEADS MINERS LOWER

Shares in Randgold Resources tumbled after a military coup in Mali sparked concerns that operations at its Loulo and Morila gold mines in the country may be disrupted. According to media reports, rebel troops have taken over state radio and television in Mali to announce that they have seized control of the country.

Chief Executive Mark Bristow is currently at Loulo, located 350km from the capital Bamako. As part of a Randgold statement released this morning, Bristow said that "the current state of affairs in the country was calm although exact details were unclear." While he assured that operations were still running normally, it has not tempted investors to dip back in with shares still down nearly 13%.

Other miners were being weighed down by the gloomy Chinese manufacturing data, with markets worrying over the what this means for the demand for metals from the world's second-largest economy. Fresnillo, Vedanta, Glencore, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta and Xstrata were among the worst performers on the blue chip index.

STOCKS DIGEST BUDGET PROPOSALS

Meanwhile, stocks were reacting to yesterday's Budget announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. Pharmaceuticals titan GlaxoSmithKline has confirmed that it will invest £500m in the UK to build a new factory and create 1,000 new jobs. Osborne said he wanted to encourage investment in R&D and manufacturing by reducing the rate of corporation tax.

Self-storage groups Big Yellow and Safestore dropped after saying that, as a result of Budget proposals, it may have to start charging VAT to its customers later on this year. Sector peer Lok'nStore however will not be affected as it had always charged VAT, the company said today.

Utilities stock were broadly higher after government announced yesterday that the planned sequence of cuts in corporation tax would be accelerated. Nomura thinks this should be a "small positive for UK utilities paying majority UK corporation tax." Centrica, National Grid, Pennon, SSE, Severn Trent and United Utilities were all making gains. The latter was the standout performer though after announced that it on track to deliver a 'good' underlying financial performance for the year ended March 31st, and is on course to meet its regulatory outperformance targets.

KINGFISHER RISES, ASTRA FALLS...

The final year of do-it-yourself (DIY) retailer Kingfisher's 'Delivering Value' initiative did what it says on the tin, with the full year dividend up by a quarter. Meanwhile, sales rose 3.6% and adjusted pre-tax profits jumped 20.4%, helped shares a little higher today.

Shares in pharmaceuticals firm AstraZeneca were lower after the company announced that the formulation patent protecting its SEROQUEL XR drug was found to be invalid by the High Court in the UK. "AstraZeneca is disappointed with the court's decision. However, the company remains committed to defending its intellectual property protecting SEROQUEL XR," the firm said.

There has been a raft of broker downgrades today, with a number of heavyweights being taken down a peg or two. AMEC was down after JP Morgan cut its rating from overweight to neutral. Capital Shopping Centres fell after Societe Generale reduced its recommendation from hold to sell.

Meanwhile, Espirito Santo appears to have downgraded nearly the entire REIT sector from buy to neutral, cutting its ratings for British Land, Derwent London, Great Portland Estates, Hammerson and Shaftesbury. Gem Diamonds was a heavy faller after Citigroup downgraded its rating on the stock from buy to sell.

BC

FTSE 100 - Risers
Kingfisher (KGF) 305.00p +1.67%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 619.50p +1.56%
Rexam (REX) 429.30p +1.44%
Sage Group (SGE) 295.00p +1.30%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,595.00p +1.14%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 694.00p +0.95%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 172.80p +0.88%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 174.80p +0.87%
BT Group (BT.A) 219.30p +0.78%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 546.00p +0.74%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,760.00p -12.66%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,624.00p -6.51%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,285.00p -4.96%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,152.00p -3.36%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,323.00p -3.29%
Glencore International (GLEN) 402.40p -3.21%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,427.50p -3.02%
Polymetal International (POLY) 939.00p -3.00%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 27.67p -2.98%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,109.50p -2.85%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Regus (RGU) 112.10p +4.67%
Telecity Group (TCY) 731.00p +2.89%
Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 472.60p +1.63%
William Hill (WMH) 246.90p +1.56%
AG Barr (BAG) 1,239.00p +1.39%
easyJet (EZJ) 449.70p +1.33%
Debenhams (DEB) 79.25p +1.21%
Cranswick (CWK) 812.00p +1.12%
Savills (SVS) 376.90p +1.05%
De La Rue (DLAR) 935.50p +1.03%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Essar Energy (ESSR) 135.10p -9.51%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 150.20p -5.95%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 256.00p -4.94%
Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 295.60p -4.83%
Afren (AFR) 122.60p -4.52%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 308.00p -4.17%
Greggs (GRG) 530.00p -3.55%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,075.00p -3.50%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 607.50p -3.49%
Hays (HAS) 86.90p -3.44%

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