London close: Miners drag Footsie down 2.3%

14th Dec 2011 16:42

The FTSE 100 index finished at its lowest levels of the day on Wednesday, closing over 100 points down from Tuesday's close of 5,490. Just one stock in London, Morrison, finished in the blue, while the heavyweight mining sector dominated the downward direction.Markets remain concerned with the ongoing debt crisis in the Eurozone, with Italian five-bond yields rising to a euro era record. Italy's Treasury paid 6.47% to issue €3bn in five-year debt, compared to the 6.29% paid at the last auctions. The borrowing rate on a 10-year Italian bond rose 11 basis points to 6.8%.Germany, however, paid just 0.25% to sell €4.18 in two-year paper, compared with the 0.39% paid last time around - this is the lowest yield since the formation of the single currency.Supermarket chain Morrisons was a lone riser after announcing that it aims to create more than 7,000 new jobs in 2012 as it opens more stores and develops its manufacturing and logistics arms. The company plans to open 25 new stores in 2012 and said many of the new posts would be 'craft skills' jobs such as butchery, bakery and fishmongery. FRESNILLO PLUMMETS 11%, MINERS NOT FAR BEHINDIn London, Fresnillo was the heaviest faller on the Footsie finishing over 11% down, as falling metals prices and an announcement by FTSE Group weighing on the stock.Concerns over the Eurozone and last night's decision by the Federal Reserve to keep policies unchanged meant that the dollar soared against the euro, and in turn, pushing the price of dollar-denominated metals lower. By the close, copper had fallen 5.14%, gold was down 5.06% while silver had tumbled 7.76%.Meanwhile, UK-incorporated companies wanting to be included in the FTSE UK Index Series will have to have to raise their minimum free float requirement from 15% to 25%, FTSE Group has said. According to FTSE, just five stocks listed on the FTSE All-Share index currently do not meet the 25% free float requirement: Eurasian Natural Resources Corp (ENRC); Essar Energy; Evraz; Ferrexpo; and Fresnillo. These five stocks were all pressured lower today - not helped by falling metals prices - after FTSE said that they have just 24 months to increase the percentage of their shares held by the public to meet the target.Other miners including Randgold Resources, Kazakhmys, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto also finished sharply lower.Adding more pressure to mining sector, the Conference Board announced last night that its Leading Economic Index for China fell 0.1% in October to 160.1, following a 0.4% rise the month before. "The risk of a more substantive slowdown in China's economic growth than anticipated so far is rising amid deteriorating external conditions and domestic real estate tightening," said the Conference Board China Center resident economist Andrew Polk. Iconic British luxury brand Burberry, a company with high exposure to China and often sensitive to the nation's economic outlook, dropped over 4%.OIL STOCKS FALL AFTER OPEC, GKN DROPS ON CHINA MOVEBrent crude futures tumbled 3.31% to $105.88 a barrel after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to maintain current production levels at 30m barrels per day. "The Conference also agreed that Member Countries would, if necessary, take steps (including voluntary downward adjustments of output) to ensure market balance and reasonable price levels." Oil peers Tullow Oil and Petrofac finished firmly in the red.Another big mover was automotive engineer GKN which fell on the news that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce will impose punitive duties on some automobile imports from the United States. Some observers believe that the announcement is a reaction to the World Trade Organization's recent decision to reject a Chinese appeal to a ruling against US duties on its tire exports. LOGICA PLUMMETS, SUPERGROUP ON THE UP Logica, one of the largest providers of contract computer programmers in Europe, dropped over 16% on the FTSE 250 after saying that it is to cut more than 1,300 employees as it responds to an increasing reluctance on the part of its clients to commit to contract renewals. The company, which has seen its share price slump more than 40% in the last six months, warned at the beginning of November of weakening revenues and margins in the third quarter, and the disturbing trend on revenues has accelerated in the fourth quarter. Shares in clothing firm Supergroup raced ahead on Wednesday morning after group revenue shot up 51%. Underlying pre-tax profits however eased slightly. The company said that the warehouse system and operational issues, which caused the company problems after the firm implemented an upgrade programme to increase capacity and efficiency at its Barnwood site, have been resolved. Struggling package tour operator Thomas Cook fell after its delayed full-year results disappointed. The company made an underlying profit before tax of £175m in the year to the end of September, down from £248m the year before. ECONOMIC NEWSUK unemployment rose by 128,00 in the three months to October to a reach a total of 2.64m, according to the Office for National Statistics. The rise was not as big as forecast by some economists, who predicted the figure would come in at 140,000. However, the number of unemployed people is the highest since 1994, while the unemployment rate, which reached 8.3% of 'economically active' people, was the highest since 1996. BCFTSE 100 - RisersMorrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 316.90p +0.25%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 1,494.00p -11.12%Essar Energy (ESSR) 193.10p -6.53%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,360.00p -6.06%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 611.00p -5.64%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 846.50p -5.42%Admiral Group (ADM) 787.00p -4.95%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,120.00p -4.92%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,035.50p -4.69%GKN (GKN) 170.30p -4.65%Barclays (BARC) 170.30p -4.65%FTSE 250 - RisersSupergroup (SGP) 538.50p +7.16%Genus (GNS) 1,070.00p +5.00%AG Barr (BAG) 1,215.00p +4.74%Pace (PIC) 69.75p +4.49%Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,041.00p +4.20%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 40.72p +3.09%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 185.00p +2.78%Carpetright (CPR) 437.40p +2.44%PZ Cussons (PZC) 332.00p +2.00%SDL (SDL) 690.00p +2.00%FTSE 250 - FallersLogica (LOG) 62.10p -16.14%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 64.00p -11.11%SVG Capital (SVI) 165.80p -8.04%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 86.30p -7.70%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 443.90p -7.69%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 251.70p -7.05%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 149.00p -6.82%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 151.50p -6.48%COLT Group SA (COLT) 86.55p -6.33%Cape (CIU) 305.50p -6.14%