Sector movers: Mining and metal stocks drag FTSE 100 lower
Updated : 18:52
Mining and metal stocks led the London market lower on Thursday, as the commodities market saw another tumultuous trading session.
The FTSE 100 fell below 6,000-level closing 1.17% or 70.75 points lower at 5,961.49, while the FTSE 250 closed down 0.87% or 145.32 points at 16,514.53. Selected base metal futures fell further on the London Metal Exchange extending Wednesday’s declines.
Past the midway point of trading, LME’s three-month delivery contracts of primary aluminium (down 0.6%), copper (down 1.4%), lead (down 1.1%) and nickel (down 1.0%) were all trading lower.
Only, tin (up 1.9%) and zinc (up 0.2%) futures bucked the wider industry trends as ratings agency Moody’s said European metal and mining companies are most exposed to China’s gradual slowdown and could suffer both in terms of export volumes and the knock-on effect of lower prices.
Glencore took a hammering with its share price breaching the 100p-level to close at 98.61p, down 9.62% as the biggest blue chip faller. Fellow miner Anglo American (down 6.16%) also took a dent along with many of the sector blue chips.
FTSE 250 fallers’ roster also had a predictable natural resources led stream. Petra Diamonds (down 13.44%), was joined by Tullow Oil (down 5.62%) and Premier Oil (down 5.33%).
However, on the positive side Evraz (up 5.67%), Randgold Resources (up 5.51%) and Fresnillo (down 3.41%) ended higher.
Away from the mining sector, technology company Smiths Group failed to impress traders as CEO Philip Bowman prepared to step down following the full-year results announced Wednesday. And the market wasn’t too impressed with Rolls-Royce either, after EDF Energy announced the engineering group is set to supply heat exchangers to be used at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station; a contract worth over £25m.
However, travel and tourism stocks held their own benefitting from the positivity provided by EasyJet and British Airways-owner IAG over the previous session, while Thomas Cook gained as the travel company said it was on track to meet full-year profit targets.