By Atul Prakash
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index surrendered early gains on Wednesday, with mining companies extending their recent weakness on lingering concern about the pace of economic growth in China, the world's largest metals consumer.
Investors also became cautious after data showing British industrial output fell in January, led by declines in information technology and machinery after a strong December.
However, shares in mid-cap Domino Printing Sciences (L:DOPR) surged 31 percent. The board of the company, which makes barcode printers, accepted a 1.03 billion-pound takeover offer from Japan's Brother Industries Ltd (T:6448).
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (FTSE) was flat at 6,704.49 points by 1455 GMT, after rising as high as 6,738.95 earlier in the session.
The UK mining index (FTNMX1770) fell 1.2 percent, the biggest decline, after data showed growth in China's investment, retail sales and factory output all missed forecasts in January and February, leaving investors with little doubt the Chinese economy is still losing steam.
"UK miners in particular are very closely correlated with Chinese industrial production data and are very sensitive to bad news," said James Butterfill, global equity strategist at Coutts. He added that he still liked miners, because they had attractive valuations and good dividend yields.
Miners BHP Billiton (L:BLT), Anglo American (L:AAL), Antofagasta (L:ANTO) and Fresnillo (L:FRES) fell 1.1 to 2.2 percent.
Among other sharp movers, mid-cap oil explorer Cairn Energy (L:CNE) fell 17.6 percent after filing a dispute notice against the Indian income tax department over a $1.6 billion tax claim.
N Brown Group Plc (L:BWNG) fell 15.9 percent. The British online and catalogue-based retailer of plus-size apparel retailer cut its full-year profit forecast for the second time.
"N Brown blamed a challenging autumn for lowering its full year profit expectations. However, its slowdown may raise questions about renewed competition from established clothing retailers as they move into more multi-channel offerings," said Lewis Sturdy, a dealer at London Capital Group.