FTSE sinks 2% on Europe and China fears

The FTSE 100 was down almost 2% this afternoon as fears over Europe’s sovereign debt woes and tighter monetary policy in China continued to weigh on investors.

At 3.24pm, the UK's leading index was down 1.99% or 115.69 points 5,704.72.

Miners led fallers as metal prices pull back on concerns fears China will act to cool down its economy to rein in inflation.

Kazakhmys was down 5.28% to £14.34, while Antofagasta shed 4.8% to £13.69 and Fresnillo dropped 4.61% to £13.86.

Banks were also under pressure as the eurozone's finance ministers try to find a way out of Ireland's debt crisis.

Lloyds fell 3.79% to 67.22p, followed by Standard Chartered which slipped 3.47% to £18.35.

Rexam is bucking the downward trend today after the can maker said it is trading on track with cost savings coming through and capacity being added in South America. It shares were up 2.8% to 319.7p.

Elsewhere in Europe, Paris' CAC 40 has fallen 1.82% to 3,793.94 and Frankfurt's Dax is down 1.06% to 6,718.52.