Miners were amongst the biggest fallers on the FTSE, which was down 0.61% or 36 points to 5,852.48, on fresh concerns China’s demand for oil and metals would slow.

Basic materials stocks were down 2.37% with Evraz (-3.93%), Vedanta Resources (-3.33%) and Kazakhmys (-2.93%) among the biggest losers.

Manufacturing output contracted this month exacerbating worries Chinese GDP growth will slow further.

The news reversed some of the gains brought about by central bank stimulus in the past weeks. This week the Bank of Japan unleashed further quantitative easing to boost its economy and, while the Nikkei 225 moved higher initially, it closed down 1.57% to 9,086.98 this morning. The Shanghai index closed 2.08% down at 2,024.84.

Commodities also suffered quite heavy falls with Brent crude oil falling 0.92% to $107.2. After a solid few months for gold, it was among the precious metals to decline on the weak data, down 0.72% to $1,758.9 per oz while silver dropped 1.15% to $34.190.