London close: Losses in commodity space weigh on Footsie

The UK's top-flight index finished in the red as losses overnight in Japanese equities filtered through into the European session, with weakness in the market for US energy companies' high-yield debt seen as the epicentre of current worries.

That came amid a second-day of sharp falls in the shares of European lenders, with investors fretting that tensions in commodity markets and in the debt of US energy companies might lead to losses in banks' loan books.

The FTSE 100 was down by 1.0% or 57.17 points to 5,632.19, with miners’ shares and those of StanChart bearing the brunt of selling.

Overnight, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei-225 closed down by over 5%.

Crude oil futures were in the black throughout most of the day but would retreat sharply after the close of the session, with West Texas Intermediate crude futures down by 2.95% at $28.84 a barrel and Brent crude futures off by another 4.9% to $31.34.

“While the banks remain under pressure the next panic sell-off could just be around the corner. Janet Yellen’s testimony this week will be under even more scrutiny than usual and those without the stomach for some extreme volatility may well be advised to take a back seat,” said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investor.

In corporate news, TUI AG was under the cosh after the tour operator reaffirmed its 2016 earnings guidance but reported a wider net loss for the first quarter.

Housebuilder Redrow nudged higher after posting a rise in first half pre-tax profit as revenue and completions grew.

Legal & General rallied after the insurer and investment manager updated the market with details of its annuity bond portfolio.

Supermarket retailer J Sainsbury was a high-riser after market research firm Kantar said it was continuing to outperform the industry.

In terms of sectors, miners were the standout losers, with Antofagasta, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton firmly in the red.

Three-month copper futures on the LME finished the session at $4,471 per metric tonne, down by 3.6% for the session.

Broker notes also weighed on the sector as Goldman Sachs downgraded Antofagasta to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 5,632.19 -1.00%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 15,316.93 -1.17%
techMARK (TASX) 2,922.52 0.08%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Next (NXT) 6,665.00p 3.65%
WPP (WPP) 1,383.00p 3.36%
Carnival (CCL) 3,034.00p 2.60%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,238.00p 2.29%
Wolseley (WOS) 3,300.00p 2.26%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,502.00p 2.25%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 940.00p 2.17%
Relx plc (REL) 1,149.00p 2.04%
ITV (ITV) 241.50p 1.90%
Kingfisher (KGF) 320.60p 1.87%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 333.80p -11.25%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 410.90p -9.37%
Glencore (GLEN) 94.44p -8.13%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 666.10p -5.85%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 403.30p -5.55%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 1,751.00p -4.86%
Barclays (BARC) 156.25p -4.67%
Worldpay Group (WI) (WPG) 263.80p -4.28%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,461.00p -4.01%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,461.00p -3.98%

FTSE 250 - Risers

QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 223.50p 5.42%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,277.00p 3.23%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 470.20p 2.89%
Rightmove (RMV) 3,457.00p 2.40%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,338.00p 2.29%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 234.40p 2.18%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,245.00p 1.97%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 712.50p 1.93%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,805.00p 1.69%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 336.60p 1.63%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Sophos Group (SOPH) 176.20p -14.55%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 217.50p -10.86%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 161.50p -8.03%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 72.95p -7.66%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 264.00p -7.54%
Vectura Group (VEC) 165.50p -7.28%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 261.00p -6.99%
Drax Group (DRX) 229.30p -6.88%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,381.00p -6.69%
ICAP (IAP) 414.10p -6.46%