FTSE slides on miners

The FTSE 100 dropped 76.69 points this morning to (1.82%) to 4,091.

Miners took the biggest dive, with Xstrata, Eurasian Natural Resources and Vedanta Resources some of the biggest losers at 9.01am.

Xstrata dropped 7.67% to 554.00p, while Eurasian Natural Resources fell 6.52% to 559.50p.

Vedanta Resources, India's biggest miner, saw its shares slip 5.89% to 919.00p in early trading, despite a large rise Monday after it confirmed it had bought a 10% stake in Canadian mining company HudBay.

Stocks helping to push up the FTSE 100 included pharma company GlaxoSmithKline, up 1.51% to 1,079.00 due to its potential of developing a remedy for swine flu. Associated British Foods, up 0.91% (to 717.00p), and Schroders, up 0.52% (to 673.50p) also joined the biggest gainers this morning.

The only sector up this morning was healthcare, by 0.53%. Basic materials plunged 4.60%, while financials trailed, down 2.79%.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average had its lowest close for almost one month on Tuesday, down 232.57 points (2.7%) to 8,493.77.

It was impacted by a rising yen, fears over the US financial sector and worries over the impact swine flu will have on trade.

The yen closed at 95.76 to the US dollar on Tuesday, compared to 96.37 on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones closed on Monday down 51.29 points (0.64%) to 8,025, also over continuing fears about swine flu.

Airline companies in New York suffered large falls as worries over a potential decrease in tourism due to the flu. Continental Airlines slipped 16% to $11.08, while Delta Airlines dove 14% to finish the day at $6.75.