Afternoon markets: Mining declines flatten FTSE

UK stocks plunged on Wednesday afternoon as mining stocks struggled amid sell-off fears. At short...

UK stocks plunged on Wednesday afternoon as mining stocks struggled amid sell-off fears. At shortly after 3pm, Rio Tinto had retreated more than 12.5% as copper took a hit, while Xstrata was approaching a 12% dive. It helped pull London's blue-chip index down almost 70 points, more than 1.6%, to 4,053. Transport firms were also hit after they predicted an imminent recession would hit profits. A near 19% loss for British bus and rail operator Stagecoach Group exacerbated morning retreats for Firstgroup and British Airways. Moderate gains for pharma giants AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmith...