London’s equities markets saw significant losses on Thursday.
The FTSE 100 fell 4.1 percent to 5,858.9, the first time it had closed below the 6,000 level since March, while the FTSE 250 closed at 10,462.6 for a drop of 3.92 percent.
There were no winners on the 100 on the session, and miners were the five worst performers there after metals prices declined.
Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) dropped 8.38 percent to £10.71, while Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) fell 8.44 percent to £14.98.
Anglo American (LSE: AAL) was 9.36 percent lower to £24.70, Lonmin (LSE: LMI) was down 9.41 percent to £27.92 and Antofagasta fell 10.98 percent to 608p for the worst performance of the day on the 100.
The oil sector declined as well, as the price of crude oil dropped.
BP (LSE: BP; NYSE: BP; TYO: 5051) was down 4.06 percent to 520p, while Royal Dutch Shell’s (LSE: RDSA, RDSB; NYSE: RDS.A, RDS.B) A shares dropped 4.43 percent to £17.69.
On the 250, Premier Oil (LSE: PMO) was down 9.19 percent to 914.5p for the worst performance of the day on that index. The financial services sector was much lower.
Northern Rock (LSE: NRK) was 4.2 percent lower to 659p after Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER; TYO: 8675) dropped its target share price from £11.30 to 913p and JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634) reduced it from 830p to 690p.
Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN; SEHK: 2888), with substantial exposure in Asia, fell 7.55 percent to £14.44.
Investment manager Invesco (LSE: AVZ; NYSE: IVZ) was 6.53 percent lower to 551.5p, while hedge fund Man Group (LSE: EMG) dropped 8.31 percent to 446.75p.
Electricity generators also had substantial losses.
Drax Group (LSE: DRX) fell 4.04 percent to 605p, while International Power was 6.23 percent lower to 383p and British Energy dropped 7.98 percent to 417.75p after it said that core profit was down 12 percent in its fiscal first quarter after trouble shut down two facilities.
There were some gainers on the 250, where property group Daejan Holdings (LSE: DJAN) gained 6.57 percent to £35.22.
Publisher Euromoney Institutional Investor (LSE: ERM), which is 70 percent owned by Daily Mail and General Trust (LSE: DMGT), added 1.93 percent to 580p, while retail baker Greggs (LSE: GRG) gained 0.41 percent to €48.50.