By Jaime Llinares Taboada 



  Glencore PLC on Thursday posted a swing to a loss for the first half of the year, as underlying performance worsened and it booked significant impairments related to lower prices. 


  The FTSE 100 miner posted a net loss of $2.6 billion for the six months ended June 30 compared with a $226 million profit a year earlier. This was driven by impairments of $3.2 billion as a result of lower commodity prices related to the uncertainty arising from the coronavirus pandemic. 


  Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell to $4.83 billion from $5.58 billion. However, this was above the market consensus of $4.29 billion--taken from the company's website and based on 14 forecasts. 


  Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg said the performance reflected the countercyclical earnings power from Glencore's large-scale marketing activities. "Marketing delivered a half-yearly record adjusted EBI performance of $2.0 billion, allowing us to raise full-year guidance to the top end of our long-term $2.2 [billion]-$3.2 billion range," he said. 


  Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com; @JaimeLlinaresT