Prudential at the bottom of FTSE 100
Precious metal miners down over 2
Spring budget in sight
FTSE 100 down 1.4, FTSE 250 off 1.3

March 15 Reuters London stocks fell on Wednesday as Prudential touched the bottom of the FTSE 100 index after its annual results, with investors awaiting the UK spring budget due later in the day.

The bluechip FTSE 100 was down 1.4 after jumping more than 1 on Tuesday.

Prudential fell 6.3 despite the Asiafocused insurer reporting an 8 jump in fullyear year profit. The company39;s chief financial officer James Turner also said the insurer had a 1 million exposure to Silicon Valley Bank SVB, which was minimal against a total debt book of 23 billion.

The now fully Asia and Africafocussed giant hasn39;t done enough to offset wider market concerns though, with the group39;s minimal 1 million exposure to SVB a potential cause for overreaction, said Sophie LundYates, a lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

The wider life insurance index fell 4.2, hitting a near threemonth low.

Investors would be keenly awaiting the UK39;s spring budget, with Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt due to make a budget speech to parliament at around 1230 GMT.

From a market perspective, one of the definitions of success is if there isn39;t much of a market reaction to the budget, said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.

There39;s a desire to have a budget that is digested by markets relatively painlessly.

Lower gold prices weighed on precious…