Five of the UK's largest fund managers were among the top shareholders that sold shares in Rio Tinto to China's Chinalco and US-based Alcoa last Friday, casting doubt on BHP Billiton's bid for the Australian mining group.

Standard Life Investments sold 24 million shares, reducing its stake to 0.05%, Baillie Gifford sold 5.6 million shares, cutting its stake to 0.6%, Legal & General Investment Management sold 3.3 million shares, paring its stake to 4.8%, Fidelity International sold 9.1 million shares taking its stake to 0.6% and AllianceBernstein offloaded 7.2 million shares taking its stake back to 2.38%.