The mining sector in London was lower across the board on Thursday, weighed down by concerns over inflation in China after the country's central bank hinted that it was willing to tighten monetary policy in an effort to contain prices.

People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said yesterday at a news conference that China should be "on high alert" against price rises after inflation surged to a 10-month high of 3.2% last week, above the bank's forecast.

"The central bank has been paying high attention to inflation figures and we will stabilise inflation expectations via monetary policies," he said.

Mining stocks, which rely heavily on economic powerhouse China as an importer of commodities, were out of favour in afternoon trade with Rio Tinto, Fresnillo and Vedanta among the worst performers on the FTSE 100.

On the second-tier FTSE 250 index, sector peers Ferrexpo, Hochschild Mining and Lonmin were also in the red.

Meanwhile, metals prices were broadly lower today, with dollar-denominated gold, silver and platinum prices taking a hit as the greenback strengthened on US growth optimism.

Continuing improved data from the States has led many to believe that the Federal Reserve could scale back its quantitative easing measures later this year, pushing the dollar index - which measures the currency against a basket of six others - to a seven-month high.

Gold miner Centamin was also lower after warning investors that its Stage 4 expansion project has experienced some delays for key items, materials and services.


Top performing sectors so far today
Fixed Line Telecommunications 3,197.45 +2.17%
Personal Goods 22,921.32 +1.97%
Food & Drug Retailers 4,636.59 +1.90%
Life Insurance 5,964.67 +1.47%
Banks 5,091.59 +1.43%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Industrial Metals & Mining 2,484.31 -1.98%
Mining 19,148.79 -0.86%
Automobiles & Parts 6,446.05 -0.76%
Industrial Engineering 9,912.51 -0.53%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 24,814.72 -0.34%

BC

Related share prices
Rio Tinto (RIO) share price
Lonmin (LMI) share price
Vedanta Resources (VED) share price
Hochschild Mining (HOC) share price
Ferrexpo (FXPO) share price
Fresnillo (FRES) share price