FTSE 100 hampered by poor mining performance

Poor mining performance has contributed to a drop on the FTSE 100 Index.

Rio Tinto and Anglo American both experienced significant declines on Friday (August 29th) having a knock-on effect to the British index. The FTSE 100 dropped 24.9 points to 6805.8 throughout the course of the day with Rio Tinto among the biggest fallers with an almost four per cent drop to 3209p. Anglo American did not fare much better dropping to 1512.5p and BHP Billiton slowed to 1891p.

The retail sector also performed poorly with supermarkets especially taking a hit. While the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's were under increased pressure following Kantar Worldpanel data, Morrisons bucked the trend enjoying a positive session over the course of the day. Marks & Spencer also announced a drop of 1.85 per cent.

Speaking to Proactive Investors, Samuel Springett, a trader at Accendo Markets, said: "The selling pressure on the trading floor is relentless this morning. Traders are dumping shares and increasing short positions.”

Tesco has been enduring a turbulent time of late with the supermarket today announcing a profit warning sending shares crashing to an 11-year low. The retailers cut its full-year profit forecast from £2.8 billion to £2.4 billion and slashed its half-year dividend by 75 per cent compared to the same period 12 months ago.

The announcement has prompted Tesco to bring forward the start date of new chief executive Dave Lewis, who will start work on Monday (September 1st). The company added that it will be capping business spend for the current financial year at £2.1 billion, which is £400 million less than originally planned and £600 million less than what it conducted a year ago.

One of the biggest gains on the FTSE 100 was pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca which jumped by 1.75 per cent.

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