European shares slide

Published October 14, 2005

LONDON, Oct 13: Britain’s FTSE 100 index scored its lowest close for 6 weeks on Thursday, led by oils and miners on concern the rising trend in commodity prices may stall and after a warning on oil output from BHP Billiton.

The FTSE 100 closed 77.0 points or 1.4 per cent lower at 5,265.2, its biggest points drop since the 71-point fall following the July 7 London bombings and marking a sharp retreat from early October’s 4-year high of 5,515.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European shares fell 1 per cent to a provisional close of 1,192.6 points, its lowest since Sept. 5, hit by a fall in basic resources issues on worries high-flying commodity markets were close to a peak.

The index has fallen 4 per cent from a 41-month high of 1,242.2 points struck this month.—Reuters