Citi Cuts Rating on Miners

Citigroup Global Markets hit the base metals sector with downgrades Monday on the belief that share prices in the group are nearing their peak.

Miners BHP(BHP Quote), Anglo American(AAUK Quote) and Rio Tinto(RTP Quote) were all reduced to hold ratings from buy.

"The sector is now sitting at, or very close to, all-time highs," states the report authored by Heath Jansen and his team at Citi in London. "The miners are now trading [at about a] 35% premium to net present values, which has historically been the right point to trim positions."

Shares of the three firms were all sliding between 2.5% and 3% in recent action in New York.

The report recommended sticking with Norsk Hydro(NHY Quote) and Xstrata, both of which are trading at a "discount to their peers."

Still, Norsk was losing 3% in U.S. trading, while Xstrata was off 3% in London.