LONDON: Britain's top stock market index fell on Tuesday as big mining companies came under pressure after a report showed exports had fallen in China, the world's biggest consumer of metals.
The FTSE 100 index was down 0.8 percent at 6,131.83 points by 1502 GMT, in line with the broader European market.
The FTSE is down nearly 2 percent since the start of 2016 and around 14 percent below a record high reached in April 2015, as expectations of a slowdown in China weigh on world stock markets.
Chinese exports fell in February by the most in more than six years, data showed on Tuesday, just days after world leaders sought to reassure investors that the outlook for China's economy is solid.
"Global markets have been rattled by the sharp decline in China's exports, which reinforced the lingering concerns over the slowing pace of growth in the world's second-largest economy," FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga said.
Mining stocks were particularly weak. BHP Billiton, Antofagasta, Anglo American and Glencore dropped from 7.4 to 13.1 percent.
Worldpay Group fell 6.6 percent after it said it would not pay a dividend, even though it reported underlying core earnings rose 8 percent.
But Burberry surged 6.1 percent after the Financial Times reported that the luxury goods group had sought help to fight off a possible takeover bid. The company is attempting to identify a mystery investor who has built up a stake of nearly 5 percent in the group.
"Burberry could amount to a prize acquisition for what we would regard as its 'ideal' buyer: one with the longest possible horizon with respect to (Burberry's) largest non-domestic markets," said Ken Odeluga, a market analyst at City Index.
UK supermarket group Tesco also gained, rising 3.1 percent to its highest level in almost five months, after industry data showed that the rate of its sales decline slowed.
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