(ShareCast News) - Resource stocks headed lower on Thursday, in tandem with an oil and metal futures decline.
At the close of proceedings, the FTSE 100 ended 0.40% or 24.74 points lower at 6136.89, while the FTSE 250 closed 0.90% or 151.88 points lower at 16,714.23.

Oil futures fell back into negative territory after bullish calls following an unexpected dip US crude oil inventories petered out and Iraqi data pointed to an above average crude exports figure.

Overnight, US Department of Energy's data arm - Energy Information Administration - said the country's crude inventories fell 4.9m barrels in the week to 1 April, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 3.1-3.3m barrels.

Crude stocks at the US oil delivery hub of Cushing, Oklahoma, rose 357,000 barrels, the EIA added. Concurrently, US crude imports fell by 446,000 barrels per day (bpd), owing to weather issues in the Houston Ship Channel last week.

However, earlier in the session Iraq's state-run South Oil Company said oil exports had risen to average of 3.494m bpd in April, well above the 3.286m bpd average for March.

The data, coupled with market doubts over whether major oil producers can actually agree to cut or hold production at a meeting in Doha on 17 April sent prices tumbling. Elsewhere, analysts at investment bank Goldman Sachs said a $35 per barrel oil price was about par for US shale oil producers.

At 1817 BST, the Brent front month futures contract was down 2.13% or 85 cents to $38.99 per barrel, while WTI futures fell 2.23% or 84 cents to $36.91 per barrel.

Away from oil markets, precious metals recovered from the previous session's declines as the dollar weakened following dovish minutes from the US Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy committee meeting. The COMEX gold June futures contract rose 1.14% or $14.00 to $1237.80 an ounce, while spot gold was up 1.18% or $14.38 to $1,236.85 an ounce.

COMEX silver fell 1.00% or 15 cents to $15.21 an ounce, while spot platinum also jumped 1.00% or $9.53 to $954.96 an ounce.

Headline base metal three-month futures were firmly in negative territory on the London Metal Exchange at 1635 BST with the exception of the tin (+0.5%) contract. Primary aluminium (-0.7%), zinc (-2.4%), lead (-1.3%) and copper (-2.7%) headed lower.

Unsurprisingly, Glencore (-5.71%) was the biggest FTSE 100 faller, while the uptick in gold futures saw Randgold Resources (+3.22%) end up as the biggest blue chip gainer. On a related note, JP Morgan Cazenove downgraded Glencore to 'neutral' from 'overweight' saying the agriculture unit stake sale brings to a close the catalyst-rich deleveraging story.

Midcap resource stock movement had a similar theme with Acacia Mining (+3.79%) among the FTSE 250 gainers, and Kaz Minerals (-8.19%) among the losers.

Retailer Marks & Spencer's shares rallied after it reported fourth quarter sales that exceeded analysts' estimates as sales at the troubled general merchandise unit fell less than anticipated.

Supermarket Sainsbury's was on the front foot as well after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to 'outperform' from 'underperform' and lifted the price target to 290p from 240p.

Payments processor Worldpay was under pressure after private equity groups Advent International and Bain Capital sold a 12.5% stake in the company.

Finally, chip designer ARM Holdings rose after South Korea's Samsung said it was forecasting a 10% increase in operating profit for the first quarter. ARM counts Samsung among its major customers.

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