LONDON (ShareCast) - Mining stocks were registering sharp falls on Monday morning as a surprise slowdown in Chinese economic growth weighed on the outlook for commodities demand.

China's first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth dropped from 7.9% in the prior quarter to 7.7%, while the consensus forecast had been expecting an uptick to 8.0%.

The reading still remains above China's 2013 growth target of 7.5%, but will scale back hopes for any material upside surprise to official forecasts.

"Raw materials descended into sell-off territory as investors jittered over whether a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy will detriment demand for such materials," said Shavaz Dhalla, Financial Trader from Spreadex.

Dhalla also said that concerns about Cyprus were still a focus for stock markets this morning after reports suggested that the government is putting a large amount of its gold as collateral towards its financial aid.

"It seems investors are troubled with the nation’s ability to meet their financial obligations and the detrimental consequences towards the gold markets if a default were to occur," he said.

FTSE 100: Miners suffer sell-off

Metals producers were under the weather in early trading after the disappointing economic data. Randgold, Polymetal, Fresnillo, EVRAZ, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta, Anglo American and BHP Billiton were heavy fallers this morning.

Polymetal was being weighed down further by a downgrade from Citigroup to 'sell'. Its price target was cut from 274p to 141p.

Utilities stocks were benefitting from a reduction in risk appetite this morning as defensive sectors perform well. British gas owner Centrica was on the rise after buying several natural gas and crude oil assets in Canada. Sector peers United Utilities, Severn Trent and National Grid were also higher.

Oil firm Tullow was lower despite reporting a successful first flow at its Ngamia-1 well in Kenya and hydrocarbon indications at the Sabisa-1 well in Ethiopia.

FTSE 250: Betfair jumps on takeover speculation

Online betting group Betfair surged early on after CVC Capital Partners confirmed that it was in talks about making an offer for the company.

Mining stock Petropavlovsk was tracking the wider sector lower this morning with Citigroup adding to the selling pressure after cutting its rating for the shares to 'sell'.

High Street bookie Ladbrokes sunk after saying that operating profits will be at the bottom of the existing market range in 2013 due to softer-than-expected trading in the first quarter.

Oil and gas firm Cairn Energy was lower despite securing a long-term contract with Transocena for the Cajun Express drilling unit.

Fidessa, which develops trading systems, also fell after saying that the attraction and pricing pressure seen last year has continued into the first quarter.


FTSE 100 - Risers
United Utilities Group (UU.) 736.00p +2.08%
Centrica (CNA) 384.20p +1.27%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 4,661.00p +0.89%
Prudential (PRU) 1,072.00p +0.85%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,719.00p +0.76%
National Grid (NG.) 798.00p +0.69%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 902.00p +0.67%
BP (BP.) 450.95p +0.66%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 169.80p +0.65%
SSE (SSE) 1,542.00p +0.52%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,649.00p -6.23%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,219.00p -4.24%
Evraz (EVR) 176.10p -3.98%
Polymetal International (POLY) 826.00p -3.84%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 240.50p -3.57%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 985.00p -2.76%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,130.00p -2.59%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,005.00p -2.45%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,852.50p -2.11%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,609.00p -2.01%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Betfair Group (BET) 769.50p +10.01%
United Drug (UDG) 297.00p +1.82%
Man Group (EMG) 106.30p +1.82%
Ted Baker (TED) 1,314.00p +1.78%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 552.00p +1.28%
ITE Group (ITE) 277.20p +1.24%
BH Macro Ltd. EUR Shares (BHME) € 20.54 +1.13%
Fidelity European Values (FEV) 1,401.00p +1.01%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,135.00p +0.90%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,219.00p +0.74%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Petropavlovsk (POG) 157.60p -15.54%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 193.10p -6.67%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 350.80p -6.35%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 179.80p -5.27%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 172.70p -5.01%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 250.50p -4.72%
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 204.50p -4.35%
Lonmin (LMI) 266.80p -4.17%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 41.47p -3.56%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 108.30p -3.48%

BC

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