UK stocks : FTSE 100 sheds 0.2%

UK stocks closing: Britain's top share index fell on Monday, led by miners, as dull European data kept the focus on a gloomy economic outlook, tempering the boost given to markets by recent central bank stimulus moves in Europe and the United States.

Germany's Ifo index of business sentiment fell for a fifth month running, bucking expectations for a rise, to become the latest in a run of poor data from major economies.

That data has turned investors' minds back to the longer-term problems of both Europe and the United States in generating growth while trying to get public debt under control.

Today's probably more by way of a reality check ... (the) weak Ifo doesn't really help, said Frances Hudson, global thematic strategist at Standard Life Investments, which has 157.6 billion pounds ($255.3 billion) of assets under management.

A lot of positive feedback has been read into the central bank easing, whether it's the ECB or the Fed, and anything like that is going to take a long time to deliver, Hudson said.

The FTSE 100 closed down 13.78 points, or 0.2 percent at 5,838.84, having notched up a loss of 1.1 percent last week after two consecutive weeks of gains.

Weakness in heavyweight miners accounted for around 8 points, or over half of the index's decline as the sector tracked weaker copper prices.

Overall the mining sector has fallen around 5 percent since the release late last week of dull manufacturing data out of China, the world's top consumer of metals.

JPMorgan Chase recommended that investors pocket recent gains in the sector because the impact of stalling global - and particularly Chinese - growth momentum was offsetting the modest boost generated by the U.S. Federal Reserve's new asset-buying programme.

A healthy period of consolidation to a market underpinned by the printing presses might not be a bad thing, helping to remove some of the froth and tail risks presented to the market by the recent rush into riskier assets, said David White, a trader of financials at Spreadex.

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