* Miners, oils slide on weak commodity prices * Banks weaker; Lloyds rump placing weighs
* Defensive issues in demand led by Vodafone
* Political uncertainty dents sentiment
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index shed 0.8 percent on Monday, weighed down by weak energy and mining stocks, depressed by lower commodity prices, while banks fell as recent bullish sentiment soured.
At the close, the FTSE 100 was down 33.34 points at 4,405.22, after closing 51.62 points or 1.2 percent higher at 4,438.56 on Friday buoyed by U.S. jobs data.
The index is still up over 25 percent since slumping to a six-year trough in March, but a return to caution over the economic outlook has led investors to lock in profits.
"It's a pause after the good run as investors take stock of the political uncertainties created by Gordon Brown's battle to keep his job, exacerbated by the dire European elections," said Mic Mills, senior trader at spread betters ETX Capital.
Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, came under more pressure after damaging European election results added to his woes after six government ministers quit the government last week.
The political worries saw sterling hit a near two-week low against the dollar on Monday.
Miners were the main drag on blue chips as commodity prices retreated, impacted by a strengthening dollar, with Anglo American, Vedanta Resources, Fresnillo, Eurasian Natural Resources, and Kazakhmys down 1.8-4.9 percent.
Rio Tinto and BHP Billion, boosted on Friday by iron ore joint venture news after Rio's terminated its investment deal with China's Chinalco, fell 2.5 and 3.9 percent respectively.
Oil majors also pulled down the index, tracking lower crude prices with Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group, Tullow Oil and Cairn Energy losing 0.7-2.1 percent. But BP rallied 0.3 percent after earlier falls.
Lloyds Banking Group was the heaviest individual blue chip faller, down 7.7 percent after rump shares from its placing and open offer were placed at 60 pence each.
Lloyds said it had raised just under 3.5 billion pounds from shareholders, 87 percent of which subscribed to a capital raising that will be used to pay back some of the money injected into the bank by the British government last year.
Barclays fell 0.4 percent after it said it is in talks to sell Barclays Global Investors, with U.S. fund manager BlackRock the front runner according to people familiar with the matter.
Other banks were hurt by the slightly cautious sentiment, with Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, and Standard Chartered down 0.1-4.9 percent respectively.
NOT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM
Despite the more gloomy mood in the market, further evidence pointed to an improving economic outlook.
The recession in Britain is over for now, a slim majority of economists said in a poll published by the Financial Times on Monday.
Britain's businesses feel more confident about their prospects than at any other time in the past 12 months, Lloyds Banking Group's monthly "Business Barometer" found, providing further evidence of improving sentiment in the economy as the slowdown at least bottoms out, the Independent said.
Market heavyweight Vodafone, up 0.4 percent lent the blue chips its strength as defensive factors came more to the fore, with household products firm Reckitt Benckiser adding 1.4 percent, utility Pennon Group up 0.6 percent, and food retailer J.Sainsbury ahead 0.6 percent.
BSkyB was also a top FTSE 100 riser, up 2.1 percent as traders suggested the satellite broadcaster would be the beneficiary of the likely demise of rival Setanta.
The board of the Irish sports broadcaster was due to meet on Monday, a person familiar with the situation said, following media reports the group was close to going into administration.
Rolls Royce gained 1.9 percent after Goldman raised its rating to 'neutral' from 'sell' in a European aerospace and defence review. But Peer Cobham shed 3.2 percent as Goldman cut its rating in the same review. (Editing by Dan Lalor)