By Kit Rees and Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 fell on Thursday, underperforming European indexes, after a spate of disappointing earnings updates and a decline in copper prices that put pressure on mining shares.
The FTSE 100 was down 42.00 points, or 0.7 percent, at 6,395.80 points at the close. European blue chips fell just 0.2 percent.
Traders were also digesting the latest statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve, from which it removed its previously more dovish language, suggesting a rate increase in December was back on the table.
"Yesterday was a lot more of a ... hawkish tone than a lot of people were expecting. That fed into the expectation that (the Fed) could be serious about a December rate hike," said Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG.
He added that the subsequent U.S. dollar rally had impacted the FTSE 100 more than its peers due to the heavy weighting of commodities on the index.
FTSE 350 mining stocks were down 3.4 percent after copper prices declined and commodities became more expensive in other currencies.
Wall Street initially gained following the Fed's statement, which sounded optimistic about the strength of the U.S. economy. But traders were cautious on the implications of a rate rise before the end of the year.
"Given the rapid rise in equities after the sell-off in August, traders are left wondering if there is much more upside left," Manoj Ladwa, head of trading at TJM Partners, said in a note.
"Disappointing third-quarter numbers from Barclays (L:BARC) and Smith and Nephew this morning is also adding to the bearish sentiment."
Barclays fell 6.3 percent, accounting for 10.3 points of the index's drop. The bank's profit missed forecasts and it said it would spend 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) to protect domestic retail customers from riskier parts of the business, raising costs.
UK engineering firm Meggitt (L:MGGT) fell 5.4 percent following a spate of broker target cuts after the company issued a profit warning on Wednesday.
Smith and Nephew lost 4.7 percent after its third-quarter revenue also fell short of expectations. Europe's biggest maker of artificial hips and knees stuck to its forecast for a higher trading profit margin this year.
Royal Dutch Shell (L:RDSa) retreated 1.5 percent after it reported a decline in third-quarter profits as oil prices fell and it took an $8.2 billion charge.
"The writedowns we've seen in Shell are much more than we thought they would be," said Alastair McCaig, a market analyst at IG. "One-off costs have certainly eroded profitability, while production levels are also down."
($1 = 0.6552 pounds)