Markets: FTSE 100 plummets on recovery fears

17:09 - Disappointing US data, eurozone debt woe and fears over the global economic recovery combined to create a market maelstrom on Thursday, sending the FTSE 100 (UKX) tumbling.

London's top share index closed 239 points down at 5092, suffering its biggest daily fall since March 2009.

Every constituent found itself in the red, with banks heading the losses. Barclays (BARC) was down almost 11.50%, while part-nationalised rivals Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) were nursing hefty deficits too.

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1.816.94

WTI crude oil: $83.53

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.6488

GBP/EUR: 1.1514

EUR/USD: 1.4310

16:46 - Investors shaken by concerns over the health of the global economy ran for the hills on Thursday, leaving US markets awash with red.

The Dow Jones tumbled 428 points to 10982, with the Nasdaq down 106 at 2405 and the S&P 500 falling 46 to 1148.

Meanwhile, as markets plummeted, Treasury yields and gold hit record levels as investors sought safe havens.

For more on where investors could put their money, read: Alternative hedges against market volatility.

16:31 - Life science company ValiRx (VAL) has acquired the outstanding equity of a Finnish company, ValiRx Finland, which it had jointly established with local partners in 2008.

The AIM-listed company said the consideration was a nominal amount, which represented the initial capital introduced into the ValiFinn.

It believes that this deal will help it tap into the "favourable environment for regulated and clinical studies in the Nordic region."

16:22 - Lonrho (LONR) has signed an agreement with the government of Ghana to be the sole developer and manager for a new oil logistics port in Western Ghana.

The proposed new port will be designated as the "one stop" location for supporting the growing oil, gas and petrochemical industry in Western Ghana.

The project has an initial concession term of 25 years which is renewable for a further 25 years.

16:08 - Maple Energy (MPLE) unveiled higher revenues and a jump in profits during the first six months of the year, compared to the same period of last year.

Revenues rose by 16% during the six months to $40.7 million (£24.6 million), while gross profit increased by 20% to $12.9 million. The company attributed its 2009 and 2010 cost reduction programmes, as well as higher oil prices, to the improved figures.

Looking ahead, Maple said it remains on target to commence commercial ethanol production in the final quarter of this year.

15:56 - The World Gold Council released its demand trends for gold in the second quarter of 2011, revealing that demand fell by 17% to 919.8 tonnes year-on-year.

Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank said: "This is almost solely due to investment demand, which has dropped sharply, primarily because of lower inflows into ETFs.

"There can be no question of demand weakness, though, as other segments of gold demand show. Despite high prices, jewellery demand has risen by a good 6% which was largely attributable to India and China."

15:37 - SQS Software Quality Systems (SQS) has unveiled a series of new contract wins worth up to €22 million (£19.1 million) in total.

The AIM-traded supplied of independent software testing services, will provide test management, automation and functional testing to a large European logistics company. Worth €10 million over the next two years, it marks one of the company's largest contract wins ever.

It has also secured a further significant contract worth over €5 million over the next three years with a global insurance provider as well as contracts with four leading retail companies worth a total of €3.3 million. To top it off, SQS signed three contracts with organisations in the Public Services Sector worth €2.5 million, and two contracts with a media company and UK utilities company.

15:24 - Both Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank have cut their growth forecast for China from 9% to 8.7% and 9.1% to 8.9% respectively.

The downgrades were triggered by concerns about demand for exports as economic growth stalls in the development economies and unemployment remains high, said Fairfax in a note.

"While the absolute levels of growth are still relatively high, if growth in China decelerates too quickly this will be felt in the commodities markets where most analysts are forecasting Chinese growth to be above 9%."

15:01 - Every constituent of the FTSE 100 (UXK) was in the red on Thursday afternoon, as investors grew increasingly edgy over hopes for the global economic recovery.

London's top share index was down a whopping 210 points at 5121, with banking duo Barclays (BARC) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) heading losses - the former down over 9%.

Underlining the uncertainty for investors, Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investor, commented: "As shredded nerves began to recover from the bashing they received in recent weeks traders were looking for some relative peace and quiet, but they have had no such luck.

"Instead, investors sit in dread of what will flow next from the mouths of the eurozone leaders."

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1,815.69

WTI crude oil: $84.89

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.6499

GBP/EUR: 1.1506

EUR/USD: 1.4339

14:43 - US markets were a bloodbath on Thursday, as investors' nerves rattled amid concerns over the economic growth and continued uncertainty in the eurozone.

The impasse between France and Germany over final proposals for the sovereign debt crisis in Europe exacerbated wider fears over the global recovery.

On the indices, the Dow Jones slumped 313 points to 11096, while the Nasdaq dropped 99 to 2411 and the S&P 500 slipped 39 to 1154.

14:26 - Nostra Terra Oil and Gas (NTOG) has placed the Agnello #1 horizontal well on the Vintage Hills prospect, Texas, back into production after completing the workover.

The AIM-listed oil and gas explorer said the well had experienced intermittent plugging in the lateral section, prompting a remedial workover and the installation of a larger compressor.

For more, read: Nostra places Texan well back into production.

14:03 - A "good first-half performance" was cheered by real estate adviser Savills (SVS) on Thursday, with group revenue up 10% and pre-tax profit climbing 39%.

In the six months to 30 June, FTSE 250-listed Savills posted revenue of £335.8 million, helping pre-tax profit rise to £20 million.

The firm benefited from a strong performance in London and the Asia-Pacific markets, while it upped its interim dividend 5% to 3.15p per share.

13:40 - Shares in Alexander David (ADI) tumbled today, after the AIM-listed firm paid the price for a heavy focus on oil and gas minnows.

The investment firm saw its loss widen significantly from £234,000 to £623,000 in the six-month period to end-June, although costs associated to its demerger and loss attributable to previous healthcare operations totalled £512,000. The loss attributable to ongoing operations came in at £111,000.

However, Alexander David said its decision to "target small cap and special opportunities with a current bias towards investments in the basic resources and oil and gas sectors predominantly", led to a loss of £21,000 to its portfolio.

13:16 - Venture capital provider BP Marsh (BPM) said it had traded in line with expectations in the six months to 31 July.

The AIM-listed firm said the performance came "against a backdrop of further global financial turmoil".

It added that its focus would remain UK-centric, but said it was exploring opportunities to "strengthen relationships with potential US-based investment partners".

12:52 - Engineering firm Smiths Group (SMIN) announced today that its John Crane division is to acquire US bearings company Turbo Components and Engineering (TCE).

The FTSE 100-listed firm said the cash-funded purchase underlined the expansion of John Crane's "range of solutions for high-performance rotating equipment".

TCE had has a gross asset value of c$3.2 million, with sales of around $10 million (£6.1 million) forecast for the 2011 calendar year.

12:29 - Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) has notched up a new Triassic discovery with the Shaikan-2 appraisal well in Kurdistan.

The well was drilled to a total depth of 3,300 metres in the middle Triassic, following which a flow test was performed in the newly discovered Kurre China C zone over an 80-metre interval from 3,195 metres to 3,275 metres.

For more, read: Gulf Keystone cheers new Triassic discovery in Kurdistan.

12:00 - Miners hit by demand fears were the biggest weight on a depressed FTSE 100 (UKX) in Thursday trading.

London's top share index was down 109 points at 5221, with Xstrata (XTA) heading the mining sector's losses, while recovery concerns continued to dent banks.

Associated British Foods (ABF) was top of the pile, as one of only two firms in positive territory.

Commenting on the weakness among financial shares, Ben Critchley, sales trader at IG Index, said: "There has been no respite for financial stocks which remain under pressure after markets scratched around for detail on the implications of the Merkel/Sarkozy proposals."

Looking ahead to this afternoon, he added: "Across the Atlantic, there's a clutch of US economic readings due for release this afternoon which could provide stimulus for buyers to move back in, including CPA, initial jobless claims and existing home sales. We're currently calling the Dow Jones 175 points lower at 11235."

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1,806.51

WTI crude oil: $86.34

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.6503

GBP/EUR: 1.1483

EUR/USD: 1.4364

11:29 - FTSE 100-listed International Power (IPR) and major shareholder GDF Suez were given a boost today by the news it has the go-ahead to expand the Jirau hydro project in Brazil.

Following the successful A-3 energy auction yesterday, the pair will now expand the original concession at Jirau from 44 units to 50 units.

International Power said this will take the total capacity from 3,3000MW to 3,750MW.

Philip Cox, CEO of International Power, commented, "The energy auction price and our decision to add six units to the Jirau plant allows us to capitalise on the attractive fundamentals of the Brazilian energy market, which is characterised by strong demand growth."

10:58 - Stratex International (STI) announced an increase in its gold resource at the Altıntepe Project in Turkey on Thursday.

But the share price struggled in morning trading as it emerged the firm was still some distance from achieving gold production.

The AIM-listed exploration and development company said it had revised its in-house JORC-compliant gold resource estimate to 593,131 ounces, from 574,013.

For more, and why some analysts are still upbeat, read: Turkish timetable fears hit Stratex shares.

10:33 - Japan's economy received a boost on Thursday, as figures showed a bigger-than-expected increase in the country's trade surplus in July.

Although exports dipped last month - the fifth successive monthly fall - the trade surplus rose to 72.5 billion yen (c£572 million).

Analysts said the fall in exports heightened fears over demand in Japan's key overseas markets.

10:07 - AIM-listed duo Range Resources (RRL) and Red Emperor Resources (RMP) are moving ahead with their Puntland drilling campaign after joint venture partner Africa Oil Corp signed a contract for a drilling rig.

The "landmark" contract was signed with Sakson Drilling and Oil Services which will provide a 1,500 horsepower drilling rig to drill two exploration wells in Puntland, Somalia.

For more, read: Puntland progress for Range and Red Emperor.

09:35 - The board of brewing giant Foster's has recommended to shareholders that they recommend the hostile takeover approach from SABMiller (SAB).

Australia's largest brewer, Foster's said the AU$9.5 billion (£6.1 billion) offer it rejected in June undervalues the firm, with FTSE 100-listed SABMiller yesterday saying it intended to launch a bid at the same price direct to Foster's shareholders.

09:03 - The FTSE 100's (UKX) slump carried into a second day, with financial shares suffering in the wake of proposals from France and Germany to put a levy on future transactions.

London's top share index was down 64 points at 5266, as software giant Autonomy (AU.) headed the blue chip losses, while Kazakhmys (KAZ) led a weak mining sector south as oil prices dipped.

On a subdued day on the corporate calendar, we start with mining behemoths Anglo American (AAL), BHP Billiton (BLT) and Xstrata (XTA) cheering the approval of expansion plans for the Cerrejón thermal coal mine in Colombia.

All three have equal 33.3% interests in the $1.3 billion (£786.7 million) project, which will see production of saleable thermal coal eventually increase by eight million tonnes per annum (mpta) to around 40mtpa.

The FTSE 100-listed trio expect construction to begin before the end of the year, with it completed by 2013 and the 40mtpa target reached by 2015.

Commenting on the plans, BHP's energy coal president Jimmy Wilson said the announcement "highlights our commitment to invest in growth throughout the cycle and to continue to produce at maximum volumes to take advantage of the strong demand for energy coal."

US markets...

Wall Street was muted in midweek trading, as the Dow Jones and S&P 500 eked out nominal gains following a sedate session on Wednesday.

On the Nasdaq,though, disappointing figures from DELL (DELL) weighed on the tech-heavy index to send it 11 points lower to 2511 at the closing bell.

The Dow edged up four to 11410, while the S&P 500 ended a solitary point higher at 1193.

At a glance...

Asian markets

Nikkei 225: 8943 (down 113)

Hang Seng: 20049 (down 239)

Shanghai Composite: 2559 (down 41)

Commodities

Gold: $1,793.22

WTI crude oil: $87.19

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.6520

GBP/EUR: 1.1462

EUR/USD: 1.4411

08:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) opens at 5331.