LONDON: Britain's top share index fell on Tuesday as a slump in major bank Standard Chartered and miner BHP Billiton pushed back the market after gains in the previous session.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down 0.5 percent at 6,007.55 points at 1126 GMT, retreating from a 1.5 percent rise a day earlier.
Standard Chartered was the worst-performing FTSE 100 stock in percentage terms, dropping 5.7 percent after the emerging-markets focused bank posted an 84 percent fall in annual profits.
Standard Chartered blamed tumbling commodity prices, which have been hit by a slowdown at top commodities consumer China, and rising loan impairments for its weak earnings.
"It's a horrendous headline number out on StanChart. I'd still be a seller of any rallies on the stock because I am concerned about their exposure to China," said Beaufort Securities' sales trader Basil Petrides.
BHP Billiton also fell 4.3 percent after the company slashed its interim dividend by 75 percent on Tuesday, abandoning a long-held policy of steady or higher payouts as it braces for a longer-than-expected commodities downturn.
Miners were further hit by weaker metals prices, while lower oil prices pushed down the shares of BP and Royal Dutch Shell, with oil falling on worries that rising Iranian output would deepen a global crude oversupply.
Concerns about a weakening global economy have had an impact on oil and metals prices since the start of 2016 and hit world stock markets, with the FTSE down nearly 4 percent in 2016 and down around 16 percent from a record high reached in April 2015.
"Although European and American equities may continue to enjoy short term gains, the factors which have left global stocks heavily depressed remain intact," said FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga.
However, robust results sent housebuilder Persimmon and subprime lender Provident Financial - a newcomer to the index - to the top of the FTSE 100, rising 3.3 percent and 2.9 percent respectively.
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