At the close: FTSE 100 index closes down on miners
The FTSE 100 index closed down today, led lower by miners who followed Anglo American.
The index shut 1.42 per cent down at 6,135 points.
"Once the world knew that Anglo-American was unlikely to pay any dividend for 2015-2016, the mining sector was put to the sword for the day. Anglo American at one point saw its share price down by 12 per cent but it settled down 10.6 per cent at 3.30pm. In the last year Anglo’s share price has fallen 74 per cent," said David Buik, market commentator at Panmure Gordon.
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Anglo American's share price fell 12.29 per cent to 323.65p, while Rio Tinto's followed, dropping 8.37 per cent to 1,893p.
Glencore was down 6.92 per cent to 79.45p, while Antofagasta and BHP Billiton dropped 7.57 per cent to 441.7p per share and 5.54 per cent to 722.8p per share respectively.
Miners were also unaided by weak economic data from China that showed imports having fallen for the 13th consecutive months. "The miners will probably continue to weaken while the Chinese economic outlook remains a concern," said Basil Petrides, a Beaufort Securities sales trader.
Buik added that Rolls-Royce lost ground after a downgrade. The company's share price fell 3.36 per cent to 590p on the announcement.
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Mondi, the packaging and paper company, also fell 7.59 per cent to 1,376p per share, attributed to a downgrade on the stock from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
In an international context "the continued negativity in oil prices was the biggest concern for global markets during Tuesdays session as the major indices in Europe and the US fell aggressively as the slide showed no signs of losing its momentum", said James Hughes, chief market analyst at GKFX.
"It seems that whatever happens OPEC will not budge and yet again have reiterated their stance that the markets will undo this mess themselves and naturally regain some of its higher levels."
In the FTSE 250, Entertainment One, the maker of Peppa Pig, saw its share price plummet by 20.12 per cent to 140.9p after a number of brokers expressed concern by either downgrading the company's stock or reducing their target price.