The FTSE 100 slid to a three-week low as it caught up with world markets after the extended weekend.
The UK’s premier share index, which hit a 2016 high of 6,410 points last month, was down 54.54 points, or 0.87 per cent, to 6,187.35, weighed down by weak mining shares.
Stocks exposed to China, the world’s biggest consumer of metals, were being marked down after an underwhelming survey of China’s manufacturing sector activity.
Anglo American, the biggest faller, was down 8.8 per cent to 696p, Glencore 5.6 per cent lower to 153¾p and Standard Chartered, the emerging-markets focused bank, off 4.6 per cent to 526¾p.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, trading down 0.44 per cent to $45.63 a barrel was also pressuring miners.
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Insurers out performed, however, topping the FTSE 100. RSA Insurance was the biggest gainer, up 2.7 per cent to 471½p on an upgrade to “overweight” from Barclays, which hiked the company’s target price to 545p from 457p.
The FTSE 250 index was also in the red, down 62.17 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 16,739.38 led by Aberdeen Asset Management, down 8.6 per cent to 273p, after it posted a halving in first-half profits amid £16.7 billion of outflows of client money, which it warned could continue as investors move money away from emerging markets.
Stemming falls on the mid-cap index was Just Eat, up 8.2 per cent to 415p, after the takeaway company raised its full-year profit guidance.