By Michael Patterson
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks fell after consumer confidence dropped last month to the lowest level in at least four years and lower metals dragged down mining companies.
Kingfisher Plc, Europe’s largest home-improvement retailer, slipped after Nationwide Building Society said its sentiment index fell to the lowest since the survey began in May 2004. Anglo American Plc and Rio Tinto Group retreated as copper and zinc declined. Stagecoach Group Plc, owner of the U.K.’s biggest rail franchise, tumbled 17 percent after predicting “downward pressure” on profits through 2010.
The benchmark FTSE 100 Index dropped 22.76, or 0.6 percent, to 4,100.1 at 8:28 a.m. The FTSE All-Share Index declined 0.6 percent, while Ireland’s ISEQ Index was little changed.
“This financial crisis and credit crunch and everything related to it, is severely impacting the real economy,” said Philippe Gijsels, a Brussels-based senior equity strategist at Fortis Global Markets, which has $62 billion under management. “It is hitting every sector.”
The FTSE 100 has retreated 36 percent this year as mortgage- related losses and frozen credit markets forced the government to rescue banks and pushed the U.K. economy into a recession.
Nationwide’s index of sentiment fell 6 points to 50, Britain’s second-biggest mortgage lender said in a statement today. The reading, taken from a survey of 1,000 people from Oct. 20 to Nov. 16, compares with 83 a year earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Patterson in London at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net.
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