FTSE tumbles as US Fed considers turning off the tap

The FTSE 100 tumbled nearly 2% in morning trading after the US Federal Reserve spooked markets yesterday by warning it may slow its asset purchase programme.

London's blue chip index pulled back from five-year highs, falling as much as 118 points to 6,277 points. The index stood down 1.7% at 6,289 shortly after midday. Miners were the main drag on the index as investors sold the highly cyclical stocks, with Kazakhmys, BHP Billiton and Xstrata all off between 4.4% and 3.3%. The drop comes after the FTSE 100 hit a new multi-year peak yesterday above 6,400. Markets were spooked after the release of minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting, published overnight, showed the Fed may slow or halt its asset purchases before employment pic...