FTSE falls 1.7% on China and Ireland concerns

London's FTSE opened 1.7% down this morning on a poor day for global stocks, following heavy losses in Asia and fresh fears for the Irish economy.

The FTSE dropped 98.5 points, or 1.7%, in early trading to 5716.68. Chinese tightening concerns hit the mining sector hard. Xstrata fell 5.71%. Kazakhmys dropped 5.3%. Eurasian lost 4.8%, and Rio Tinto was down 4.1%. Global markets all closed down last night. In US, the Dow fell 74 points at 11,283, the Nasdaq lost 23 points at 2,556 and the S&P 500 shed five points at 1,214. In Asia this morning, the Nikkei was last down 114 points at 9,747, while the Hang Seng ended the morning off 250 points at 24,451. The euro fell on Friday on fears Ireland may need a bailout just like Gre...