Britain’s FTSE 100 was rattled on Thursday as global growth concerns triggered a fall in commodity-linked stocks and boosted appetite for defensive assets. Miners .FTNMX1770 and oil stocks .FTNMX0530 retreated as commodities continued their worst rout since 2008, after China surprised analysts by lifting bank reserve requirements by 50 basis points on Thursday, a day after data showed China’s factory output growth in April eased much more than expected. [ID:nL3E7GC2W4]

London’s blue chip index .FTSE, which is heavily weighted towards commodity stocks, closed down 31.04 points or 0.5 percent at 5,944.46, compounding a 0.7 percent fall on Wednesday to 5,976.00.

Martin Dobson, head of trading at Westhouse Securities, said. “I don’t believe there is sufficient growth stories out there to push the index any higher than it has been so far this year (at 6,105.77).”

The FTSE, however, found support near its April 2011 lows of around 5,860, lifted by data from the United States which showed a decline in jobless benefit claims last week, while retail sales suggested consumer spending in the first quarter might have been stronger than initially thought. [ID:nN12292551]

“We remain rangebound (250 points since April) at the moment because investors aren’t getting the interest or the earnings anywhere else other than the equity market,” Westhouse’s Dobson said.

CORPORATE GROWTH WOES

SuperGroup (SGP.L), the British company behind the rapidly-expanding Superdry fashion brand, plunged 22.5 percent after reporting a slowdown in its phenomenal sales growth. [ID:nLDE7481P5]

Interdealer broker ICAP (IAP.L) shed 2.1 percent as peer Tullett Prebon (TLPR.L) knocked sentimnt after posting shrinking revenue growth in the first four months of 2011.

Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers, said: “IDBs are finding it tough at the moment, which is surprising as the market has been very volatile since January,”

Anglo-South African insurer Old Mutual (OML.L) joined the hit parade, down 3.3 percent and disappointing investors with weaker than expected first-quarter life insurance sales.

Private equity firm 3i Group (III.L) rallied 6.7 percent on relief that its writedown of the value of its fourth-largest company, Enterprise Group, was les than feared.

Travel firms were also a feature on the upside as they benefited from a weaker oil price, with cruise operator Carnival (CCL.L) up 2 percent.

Defensive stocks such as drugmakers and utilities were buoyant and analysts said their outperformance would be likely to last.

“We suggest that (the recent defensive outperformance) is likely to continue in the next few months as we expect economic data to continue to indicate slightly lower rates of growth than enjoyed in the 2010, as a result of higher oil prices and monetary tightening especially in the U.S,” Shore capital said in a note.

AstraZeneca (AZN.L) rose 1.4 percent as UBS lifted its rating on the drug maker to “buy” ahead of a ruling on its heart drug Brilinta by U.S. health regulators.