FTSE down almost 50 points

Mining stocks bore the brunt of a shift in sentiment today amid fears that the recent rise in commodity prices may have been overdone.

The slide in the FTSE 100 Index, which fell 0.8% or 43.6 points to 5628.8, came after a poor session in Asia as the Nikkei slumped 2% on the Tokyo stock market's return from a public holiday.