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* Oil producers biggest drag on FTSE 100
* Jobless rate drops to 5.0% in 3 months to January
* Cineworld drops despite plans to reopen theatres
* FTSE 100 down 0.4%, FTSE 250 off 0.6%
(Updates to close)
By Shivani Kumaresan and Amal S
March 23 (Reuters) - British shares ended lower on Tuesday,
dragged down by energy and mining stocks, as fresh restrictions
and slow vaccination campaigns across Europe stoked fears over
the pace of economic recovery.
The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 index ended 0.4% lower,
with oil heavyweights BP and Royal Dutch Shell
being the biggest drags, shedding 3.7% and 3.3% respectively on
weaker crude prices.
"At least the index as a whole is in a happier place than it
was 12 months ago when it traded below the 5,000 mark amid
concern about the impact of COVID on the economy," said Russ
Mould, director at AJ Bell investment.
The FTSE 100 has risen 3.6% so far this year on the back of
global stimulus measures and optimism about an economic rebound
from vaccination rollouts. But rising concerns around the third
wave of coronavirus infections in Europe and slowing pace of
vaccine rollout on the back of supply crunch has made investors
cautious.
Meanwhile, travel stocks British Airways owner IAG
fell the most on the index, while InterContinental Hotels
, Wizz Air and EasyJet fell between 0.58%
and 3.38%.
Healthcare stocks were among the top laggards, weighed by
AstraZeneca Plc which fell 1.8%, after a U.S. health
agency said the drugmaker might have provided an incomplete view
of efficacy data on its COVID-19 vaccine from a large scale
trial in the United States.
Britain's jobless rate unexpectedly fell in the three months
to January, a change that partly reflected people giving up
their job hunt as lockdown measures tightened at the start of
the year, official figures showed.
The domestically focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index fell
0.6%, hit by losses in industrials stocks.
Cineworld fell 5.7%, even after saying it would
re-open U.S. theatres in April and its British halls a month
after, in time to screen big-budget movies including "Godzilla
vs. Kong", after prolonged shutdowns due to the health crisis.
(Reporting by Shivani Kumaresan and Amal S in Bengaluru;
Editing by Rashmi Aich and Marguerita Choy)
