UK Market Lower; Miners, Lenders Weak

(RTTNews) - The UK market was lower on Wednesday afternoon, as weak commodity and metal prices impacted risk appetite.

In economic news, U.K. house prices increased the most in eight months in December as a strong labor market underpinned buyer demand amid shortage of properties. House prices grew 0.8 percent in December, faster than the 0.1 percent gain seen in November, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks fell 0.39 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, dropped 0.44 percent.

The FTSE 100 index fell 0.3 percent.

Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC fell between 1.5 percent and 1.3 percent.

Miners BHP Billiton, Glencore and Rio Tinto were losing moderately.

Other markets in the region were also mostly lower.

The Asian stocks ended mixed despite positive overnight cues from Wall Street and Europe.

In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages rose more than 1 percent each.

Crude for February delivery fell $0.84 to $37.03 per barrel, while February gold advanced $1.6 to $1069.6 a troy ounce.