Mining shares dominated the FTSE 100 fallers board on Friday, extending a sector-wide retreat that has stripped roughly 8% from mining stocks since Wednesday lunchtime.
Antofagasta PLC (LSE:ANTO) led the decliners, falling 3.5% to 3,625p as investors rotated away from the sector following a pullback in underlying metal prices.
Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) dropped 2.2% to 548.3p, while Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) lost 2.1% to land at 2,810.5p in early Friday trading.
Anglo American PLC (LSE:AAL) also fell 2.1% to 3,831.5p, with Endeavour Mining shedding 2% to 4,027.5p as the broad-based selling continued.
The declines followed a pullback in the metal prices that powered the sector’s rally throughout the first half of August.
Spot gold was down 0.5% at $4,326.75 an ounce on Friday and was on course for a weekly loss as investors took profits after a strong run.
Bullion has twice failed to break above the $4,500 level, and Thursday’s session closed 1.3% lower after the metal touched a two-month high earlier in the day.
Money markets now price the probability of a Federal Reserve rate rise in September at around 40%, following softer producer price data and an increase in weekly jobless claims.
Copper has also eased back after setting a record on the Comex exchange earlier in the week, with futures falling below $6.55 a pound on Thursday to a one-week low.
Elevated prices deterred buyers in China, and the premium paid for imported metal in the country slipped, adding further downward pressure on the commodity.
Traders are now awaiting a delayed White House decision on tariffs for refined copper, which strategists have identified as the biggest single catalyst facing the market.
The recent weakness comes after an exceptionally strong start to August for the broader mining sector, which had been outperforming much of the wider market.
The world’s 50 largest listed miners added a combined $206 billion in market value over the first seven trading sessions of August alone.
Of that $206 billion gain, $108 billion came specifically from gold and silver producers, reflecting the earlier surge in precious metal prices across global markets.