FTSE 100 index declined below 6,000 levels on Tuesday as all the mining sector stood in red zone. Despite negative sentiments at London Stock Exchange stocks in travel, healthcare and defense industry posted high capital gains.

The FTSE 100 index declined 1 percent to 5,994.12 on Tuesday’s midday trading. Other European stock markets indexes such Germany’s DAX and France CAC-40 also remained under pressure in reaction. Investors were uncertain after the UK’s government announced that inflation lowered to 4 percent for the month of March as compared to 4.4 percent in the prior month.

Kazakhmys PLC reported the biggest fall at FTSE and declined by 4.2 percent while oil giant BP PLC plunged 1.8 percent. BP fell on the news that TNK-BP is about to legally sue BP PLC. Moreover crude oil futures also declined below $108 per barrel in electronic trading session of NYMEX as correction was also expected by analysts at Goldman Sachs.

Senior trader Manoj Ladwa from ETX Capital also commented, “The stock market today been looking for a reason to sell off and seem to have finally found it today, plunging retail sales, reduced growth forecasts for the world’s major economies and continued earthquakes in Japan are all weighing on stocks this morning.”

The declining oil prices however resulted in gains for travel sector stocks as International Consolidated Airlines Group soared 3.4 percent on FTSE. Cruise operator Carnival PLC also surged 3.1 percent in intraday trading.

AstraZeneca PLC advanced 0.8 percent while British American Tobacco PLC moved up by 0.3 percent in the first half of trading session at FTSE.