London - Britain's top share index fell sharply on Monday, with all individual stocks in the red and miners leading the slide as widespread fears of a China-led global economic slowdown continued to roil equities.
Alarm bells rang across world markets as a nine-percent dive in Chinese shares and a sharp drop in the dollar and major commodities panicked investors.
“Against this backdrop it would take an investor with nerves of steel to contemplate dipping back into the market at this point,” Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets, said in a note.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 2.6 percent by 08h32 GMT, reaching its lowest level since early 2013.
The index, which marked its biggest weekly loss of the year on Friday, has now fallen for 10 sessions in a row, its longest continuous decline since 2003.
Mining sector lead the fallers, dropping nearly 5 percent to its lowest level since 2009 as fears around China's growth continued to bludgeon commodity prices. BHP Billiton declined the most, shedding 6.1 percent.
South Africa-exposed Mondi and Old Mutual were also among the top fallers, down 4.2 percent and 3.3 percent respectively after the rand hit an all-time low overnight.
Small cap UTV Media was one of the few stocks to outperform, gaining more than 10 percent after saying it was in talks to sell its television assets.
REUTERS