INVESTOR fears that this weekend’s meeting of financial leaders will not deliver a solution to the eurozone debt crisis hit Britain’s blue-chip benchmark yesterday.
The FTSE 100 index fell 65.8 points to 5,384.6, despite a boost to retailers from better-than-expected September sales figures.
Marks & Spencer was among the risers, up over 1% at 332.6p, while Next was 74p ahead at £26.14 and B&Q owner Kingfisher was 4.3p higher at 260.3p.
But the uncertainty about the future of the eurozone knocked global demand prospects and caused shares in mining stocks to fall.
Fresnillo led the sector lower with a decline of 57p to £14.98, with Rio Tinto off 123p at £30.15.
Alan MacPhee, of investment manager and financial-planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted that Ithaca Energy rose 5.7% to 125.75p, with EnQuest adding 1.3% to 103p. Stagecoach was also up, finishing 1% higher at 242.7p. Among the fallers, the Royal Bank of Scotland lost 3.4% to 23.63p, with Premier Oil giving up 3.3% to 361.8p, while Wood Group shed 2.35% at 560p.