Britain’s FTSE finds its footing as commodity firms rally

Stock market panic around the world sent global equity markets to their lowest levels in three years as the FTSE 100 and Japan’s Nikkei crashed into bear markets.

As China is a major buyer of metals and other commodities, mining shares put in a strong performance Tuesday. Last night, the world’s second largest economy announced that its economic growth had fallen to its lowest level in around 25 years. Today is sure to be UGLY…Global mkts are much more anxious today…USA futures are in free fall – DOW now down 340 pts…S&P down 35 pts…Indexes – technically broken – are looking for some level of support…

‘Risks to the global outlook remain tilted to the downside and relate to ongoing adjustments in the global economy: a generalised slowdown in emerging market economies, China’s rebalancing, lower commodity prices, and the gradual exit from extraordinarily accommodative monetary conditions in the United States, ‘ it said.

The London market has seen around £110 billion wiped off the value of top flight shares in the first two weeks of the year.

That’s five times below its highest market value of more than $270 billion in 2011 when it briefly became the fifth most valuable publicly traded company in the world, ahead of giants like Chevron and Microsoft.

American Depositary Receipts of Vale (NYSE:VALE) trading in NY declined 5.1% after hours, but were trading a 0.4% higher on Wednesday.

By lunchtime, the index had climbed 124.38 points to 5,904.30.

Glencore (LON:GLEN), one of 2015’s worst performers, was down 2.9% in mid-afternoon trading.

Asia-exposed bank HSBC rose 1.9 per cent to add 6.7 points to the FTSE 100, the biggest contributor to the index.

The drop in the FTSE puts it on the brink of a so called “bear market” – a 20% fall from April’s all-time high.

Novozymes A/S (NZYM-B.KO)(NZYM-B.KO) shares sank 8.5% after the Danish maker of enzymes forecast “moderate organic sales growth” in 2016 and posted lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit. A bear market is defined as a market in which share prices are falling, but perhaps more specifically a market that has fallen a fifth below its last peak.

Image of Wall Street Traders 2008 Wednesday Sept. 17, 2008 by thetaxhaven.