Continuing uncertainty surrounding US politics and falling metal prices weighed heavily on mining stocks on Thursday as investors shrugged off some improving economic data from China.
The partial shutdown of the US government extended into its third straight day today as politicians continue to fail to come up with a solution to the budget.
Markets are hoping that Congress will agree to raise the $16.7tn debt limit by the October 17th deadline to prevent the US government defaulting on its obligations, something that the Treasury Department said could have a "catastrophic effect" on all aspects of the US economy. The Treasury said in a report today that a default could lead to "events of the magnitude of late 2008 or worse".
"Not only might the economic consequences of default be profound, those consequences, including high interest rates, reduced investment, higher debt payments, and slow economic growth, could last for more than a generation," the Treasury said in the report.
Copper, silver and gold prices were on the decline today, weighing on the outlook for demand for resource stocks. According to Alex Young, Senior Sales Trader at CMC Markets, "global analysts are expecting further potential drops should uncertainty in the States continue".
Fresnillo, Vedanta and Anglo American were among the worst performing stocks on the FTSE 100 by the close of trade.
Glencore Xstrata, Randgold and BHP Billiton were also in the red.
Source: LiveCharts
The partial shutdown of the US government extended into its third straight day today as politicians continue to fail to come up with a solution to the budget.
Markets are hoping that Congress will agree to raise the $16.7tn debt limit by the October 17th deadline to prevent the US government defaulting on its obligations, something that the Treasury Department said could have a "catastrophic effect" on all aspects of the US economy. The Treasury said in a report today that a default could lead to "events of the magnitude of late 2008 or worse".
"Not only might the economic consequences of default be profound, those consequences, including high interest rates, reduced investment, higher debt payments, and slow economic growth, could last for more than a generation," the Treasury said in the report.
Copper, silver and gold prices were on the decline today, weighing on the outlook for demand for resource stocks. According to Alex Young, Senior Sales Trader at CMC Markets, "global analysts are expecting further potential drops should uncertainty in the States continue".
Fresnillo, Vedanta and Anglo American were among the worst performing stocks on the FTSE 100 by the close of trade.
Glencore Xstrata, Randgold and BHP Billiton were also in the red.
Source: LiveCharts
