Out of recession or not, the UK market is continuing its recent decline, with miners among the main fallers on global concerns.
With the Nikkei down nearly 2%, investors have decided to continue taking profits. Fears that continuing monetary tightening from the Chinese would hit demand, particularly for commodities, have gathered pace as the country implemented its proposals for an increase in reserves for a number of banks. News of a bigger than expected fall in US existing homes sales yesterday added fuel to the view that the global recovery may be faltering. There will also be attention over the next couple of days on the latest US Federal Reserve meeting, which ends tomorrow with a policy statement. At the moment the FTSE 100 is down 36.02 points at 5224.29. Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital, said:
The FTSE is back down to pre-Christmas levels as global economic concerns weigh heavy. Mining stocks are the biggest losers this morning on worries over China tightening its fiscal policy. UK GDP figures are likely to have little effect on sentiment, despite indicating that we are finally out of recession.
Xstrata fell 24.5p to £10.78 while BHP Billiton lost 39p to 1875.5p and Kazakhmys was down 25p at £12.79.
