Chinese woes take toll on miners as FTSE slumps 3pc – London Report
THE FTSE 100 yesterday slumped three per cent, its worst one-day fall in over a week, with miners hit hardest after a slump in the manufacturing sector in China – the world’s biggest commodity consumer.
The blue chip index closed down 189.40 points, or three per cent, to 6,058.54.
China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.7 in August from the previous month’s reading of 50.0, its weakest in three years.
Mining companies were among the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100, with shares in Glencore dropping 9.98 per cent and Anglo American down 7.6 per cent. BHP Billiton declined 6.71 per cent.
In the mid caps, China worries also hit shares of hedge-fund manager Man Group, down 6.8 per cent after the boss of its China unit was reportedly taken into custody as part of a probe into the causes of recent market volatility.
The top gainer was engineering components firm Meggitt, up 2.4 per cent, with a trader citing a pick-up in auto sales and a government pledge to spend more than £500m refurbishing the Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland.