Miners and financials fall on the FTSE 100
The blue chip index sank in early trading, as headline mining and financial shares pulled it down.
Electrical connections provider Volex was down by more than 30 per cent in early trading as it announced it expects full-year profit and revenue to fall short of expectations.
Miners Ferrexpo and Eurasian fell by 4.68 per cent and 3.83 per cent respectively as worries over a slowdown hit metal prices.
Petropavlovsk, Vedanta and Kazakhmys also tumbled in early deals, sinking 3.76 per cent, 3.75 per and 3.62 per cent respectively.
Banks had a tough morning. Barclays fell by 3.73 per cent, and RBS declined by 3.75 per cent. HSBC fell by 0.84 per cent with Lloyds Banking Group the only bank in positive territory, adding 0.39 per cent in early deals.
Tool hire company Speedy added 7.21 per cent in early trading, while Wilmington Group, which provides information and training to businesses, jumped 5.07 per cent as investors reacted positively to news that its net profit rose over the year.
Consumer groups Unilever and Diageo were also ahead, by 1.41 per cent and 1.37 per cent respectively.
Stockmarkets in Asia and the US also fell, with the Nikkei down 0.39 per cent while the Dow Jones closed down 0.3 per cent.