Miners slump as weak Chinese data weighs on markets

Weaker than expected economic data from China has caused a sell-off in risk assets, especially commodities.

Economic growth in China slowed in Q1 and came in below consensus expectations at 7.7%, sparking concerns about the country's recovery. Chinese equity markets posted their worst day in two weeks following the news, with the Hang Seng and the Shanghai index losing 1.4% and 1.1% respectively. The losses extended to global markets and caused a sharp sell-off in gold, dragging its price down more than 5% to a two-year low below $1,400 per ounce. By 1pm the FTSE 100 was trading down 69.84 points or 1.09% at 6,314.55, with miners taking a particular beating. Fresnillo was the biggest ...