AP: Plummeting gold price brings mining sector crashing down
By Leonora Walters
The FTSE 100 has closed the day down 222.52 points or 5.19 per cent at 4,065.49 with no stocks going up and miners bearing the brunt of the falls, as US markets nosedive.
Markets were also depressed by the headline manufacturing PMI number from Markit/CIPS, which fell to 34.4 from October's 41.5, far below markets' expectation of a drop to 40 and the worst reading since the survey started in January 1992.
All metals prices are down this evening with silver hit the worst, down 8.36 per cent at $9.375 an ounce. Gold is down 5.51 per cent at $773.9 an ounce.
There are also concerns that demand, in particular from China, will fall for metals such as copper, while falling demand is underscored by Xstrata, which announced this morning that it has suspended a further five ferrochrome furnaces, after shutting six on 10 November due to weakness in demand for this product.
It closed down 12.52 per cent at 814.25p.
But Lonmin leads the fallers down 18.25 per cent or 155.5p at 697.5p, with Kazakhmys down 16.46 per cent at 217.25p, Vedanta Resources down 15.62 per cent at 515.75p, Anglo American is down 14.15 per cent at 1,316.5p and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation is down 14.11 per cent at 238.75p.
Also falling are Rio Tinto down 11.38 per cent at 1,424.5p, Fresnillo down 9.02 per cent at 140.5p and BHP Billiton down 9 per cent at 1,082.5p.
Insurer Old Mutual fared best closing flat at 53.75p, with other defensive stocks such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals suffering relatively less.
The FTSE 250 finished down 262.91 points or 4.31 per cent at 5,830.39, with chemicals company Victrex down 27.93 per cent or 144p at 370.75p.
The company has issued an early trading update due to a deterioration in conditions, causing a slowdown in orders.
Tonight in the US the Dow Jones is down 405.09 points at 8,423.95 and the Nasdaq is down 87.21 points at 1,448.36. A report showing a decline in manufacturing helped General Electric and Caterpillar fall, with credit card companies declining after a prediction that lending would decrease.
