The industrial metals and mining stocks were the worst performers of the day on Wednesday as commodity prices took a tumble on the back of comments from the US central bank.

Last night's minutes from the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee showed that members had become less inclined to boost the economy through quantitative easing.

The resulting effect was a stronger dollar - the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was up 0.59% - meaning that dollar-denominated commodities became more expensive.

Evraz, Talvivaara and Berkeley Mineral Resources were heavy fallers in the metals and mining sector. FTSE 250 iron ore miner Ferrexpo also took a hit after announcing that its bid to move a long-running shareholder dispute from Ukrainian courts to the UK has been denied. It is thought that the Ukrainian courts are not neutral grounds.

In contrast, the industrial transportation sector was making gains, albeit only slightly.

Clarkson, Stobart and James Fisher were the only sector constituents in the blue but they have enough clout to boost the sector average into positive territory.

Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Transportation 2,529.38 +0.08%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 3,901.14 -5.59%
Automobiles & Parts 4,655.09 -4.51%
General Retailers 1,773.36 -3.55%
Industrial Engineering 7,547.10 -3.43%
Software & Computer Services 804.45 -3.13%

BC

Related share prices
Clarkson (CKN) share price
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) share price
Berkeley Mineral Resources (BMR) share price
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) share price
Talvivaara Mining Company (CDI) (TALV) share price
Ferrexpo (FXPO) share price
Evraz (EVR) share price