FTSE 100 dragged lower by miners

Nomura slashed its rating on Anglo from “neutral” to “reduce”, while Deutsche Bank cut its target price on Kazakhmys. Anglo closed down 51p at 1,849p and Kazakhmys dropped 35p to 555p, a fall of 5.9 per cent.

Chris Beauchamp, a market analyst at IG Index, said: “London shares struggled to make headway all day, having been put  on the back foot by the Chinese government’s decision to  introduce new measures to take some heat out of the property market.

“Risk-on stocks such as miners have been hit by this, on fears of reduced demand from the supposedly-insatiable Chinese market.”

Banking stocks also continued to come under pressure, with Lloyds Banking Group down 1.95p at 51.3p after last week’s revelation that the UK government is considering the sale of its near-40 per cent stake at 61p.

HSBC was 18.1p lower at 710p after full-year profits failed to hit analysts’ expectations, while Royal Bank of Scotland slipped 7.1p to 306.9p.

The wider FTSE 100 index fell 32.97 points or 0.5 per cent to 6,345.63.

Department store chain  operator Debenhams was the biggest faller in the FTSE 250 index – dropping 15 per cent or 13.9p to 80.7p – after a profit warning.

Greenock-based plastic film maker British Polythene  Industries (BPI) headed in the opposite direction – climbing 9.6 per cent or 44p to hit 502p – after it surprised investors by reporting higher full-year profits.

NEW YORK: Wall Street losed higher last night as investors staged a late-day rebound, extending a recent trend of buying on dips despite concerns about growth and China’s housing market

The Dow Jones industrial  average rose 38.16 points, or 0.27 per cent, to finish at 14,127.82 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 7.00 points, or 0.46 per cent, closing at 1,525.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 12.29 points, or 0.39 per cent, to end at 3,182.03.