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FTSE on track for worst day in 3 months, downgrades weigh

(ADVISORY- Follow European and UK stock markets in real time on the Reuters Live Markets blog on Eikon, see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets)

* Blue-chip FTSE 100 index down 1.3 percent

* Heads for worst one-day drop in 3 months

* Lloyds and InterContinental Hotels (Frankfurt: IC1F.F - news) fall sharply

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index fell on Monday and headed for its worst one-day performance in three months, with Lloyds pushing banks lower after a downgrade by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) and miners tracking weaker metals prices.

InterContinental Hotels fell 4.3 percent, the worst performer in the blue-chip FTSE 100 index, after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "underweight" from "equalweight" saying U.S. revenue growth was expected to continue to weaken.

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A downgrade by another broker bank hit Lloyds and pushed the UK banks index to trade 1.3 percent lower. The British bank fell 2.8 percent after Goldman Sachs cut its rating for the stock to "sell" from "neutral", saying it faced incremental competition from HSBC.

The FTSE 100 index was down 1.3 percent and headed for its worst one-day percentage decline since late June.

Resource-related stocks also lost ground, with the UK mining index falling 1.5 percent, as prices of major industrial metals fell. Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) , Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) and Glencore (Amsterdam: GX8.AS - news) fell 1.2 to 2.9 percent.

"The UK market has started the week on the back foot, with some major stocks hit by downgrades by heavyweight investment banks. Nervousness ahead of a meeting of the OPEC is also hurting sentiment," Securequity senior trader Jawaid Afsar said.

OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum in Algeria from Sept. 26-28, where they will discuss a possible output-limiting deal. However, oil prices tumbled 4 percent on Friday amid signs Saudi Arabia and Iran were making little progress in achieving preliminary agreement to freeze production.

Energy shares witnessed a sharp sell-off, with the UK oil and gas index down 1.6 percent. Shares in Royal Dutch Shell, Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) and BP all fell around 1.6 percent.

Monday's decline was widespread, with only three stocks in the FTSE 100 index staying in positive territory.

However, the UK market index has surged nearly 18 percent since a post-Brexit sell-off three months ago and is up more than 9 percent so for this year, following supportive central bank policies and the resilience of leading economic indicators. (Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Toby Chopra)