FTSE 100

The FTSE was off 0.83% at 5365.96 points this morning despite the largest miners regaining some of the ground they lost yesterday.

The FTSE 100 plunged 1.95% this afternoon as miners continued to weigh on the index following Australian plans to levy a 40% tax. The index fell 108.4 points to 5,444.89.

Miners fell sharply this morning on news the Australian Government plans to introduce a new 40% tax on resource projects from July 2012.

Fund Intelligence investment director Chris Mayo has cut his weighting to Neil Woodford's High Income fund because of concerns over the UK economy.

The FTSE was steady at 5620.88 points this morning, despite rating cuts from brokers and a downbeat assessment on the UK economy by a major think-tank.

The FTSE fell 0.3% today, defying falls more than four times as large on most of Europe's major markets.

The FTSE plunged a further 50 points in early trade Wednesday as the fallout following Standard & Poor's (S&P's) downgrading of Greece's debt to ‘junk' status continues.

The FTSE 100 lost more than 150 points and closed barely over 5,600 after Greece's debt was downgraded to junk status by ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).

The FTSE 100 opened lower in early trading, falling 0.24% or 13.76 points to 5740.09, despite a raft of positive earnings announcements.

Henderson's Bill McQuaker has initiated short positions on the FTSE 100 and S&P 500 across his multi-manager range on expectations of near-term pressures for equity markets.