Afternoon markets: Global fears drag on FTSE

The FTSE was sharply down in afternoon trading at 5609.61, down 30.96 (0.55%), as mining woes and disappointing US weekly jobs figures pared back yesterday’s gains.

The top three slots in the losers league were reserved for miners, with copper mining company Kazakhmys taking poll position trading at £14.96, down 49 points (3.17%).

Silver miner Fresnillo was also down 25 points (2.88%) to 840p while gold mining Randgold Resources traded at £49.50, down 155 points (3.04%).

Topping the winners table was oil services group Petrofac which continued rising after a good day yesterday, trading at £12, up 38 points (3.27%).

Elsewhere Kingfisher was trading at 223p, up 6.40 points (2.95%).

The Dow Jones fell slightly after the Labour Department said first-time claims for jobless benefits fell slightly less than expected and concerns over monetary tightening in China dampened sentiment.

Materials and industrials components suffered, including 3M, trading at $80.80, down 0.68, (0.01%) while DuPont fell 0.27 points (0.77%) to $34.93.

Bank shares rallied to their highest in 16 months, adding to recent momentum, amid bets an improving economy will stoke loan demand, with Bank of America trading at $17.14, up 0.03 points (0.18%).

Elsewhere, International Business Machines Corp was up 1.54 points (1.23%) to $127.16.