FTSE100, worst performers.

Fear appears to be back in the market whether it is QE tapering, China growth, China banking system, there's always something to give the markets the excuse to fall once sentiment has changed. It would seem sentiment has changed in the last month or two which is hardly a surprise given the bull run before. Whether this is just a correction that will see markets revert later in the year to their usual seasonal bullishness cycle remains to be seen.

For now, it is worth having a look at the FTSE100 worst performers because despite all the bullishness about some companies and sectors have seen crash level falls.

6 months

Fresnillo  -53%
Antofagasta  -39%
Randgold Resources  -33%
Anglo American  -31%
Rio Tinto  -26%

3 months

Fresnillo  -35%
Randgold Resources  -26%
Anglo American  -24%
Glencore  -24%
G4S  -20%

30 Days

Aberdeen Asset Management  -27%
Arm Holdings  -23%
Severn Trent  -21%
Old Mutual  -20%
Vedanta Resources  -20%

Gold and silver miners hammered

It was bad enough that China disappointed the market with lower growth numbers coming in, the mining sector in general has been in a slump for some while, today they were hit hard again, but some of the biggest hits were the gold and silver miners. Gold itself had one of the biggest daily falls in a long time prompting some to suggest that it is now in a bear market, time will tell on that one, but the gold miners are now heading for falls that some haven't seen since the dark days of 2008.

Today's % falls:

Petropavlovsk - 24.01%
Fresnillo - 15.16%
Hochschild Mining - 8.37%
Randgold Resources - 8.33%

3 month change:


Petropavlovsk - 61.56%
Hochschild Mining - 46.62%
Fresnillo - 38.84%
Randgold Resources - 22.84%

More speculative African gold mining smaller company Avocet Mining is down 74.33% in 3 months.

Given current sentiment around gold and silver appears to be more negative, it is difficult to say if any of these represent a bargain at current levels or not. Technically, the charts look awful and patience is probably needed to wait for some more positive signs that the falls are over. These can go up as quick as they can fall, but right now it is guesswork as to when that turnaround is coming.

Video market round up for the week ending 15th February 2013

A week ending round up of the markets from Steve Briggs YouTube channel. Included this week is a look at the UK mining and banking sector, Randgold Resources and Barclays.

Links:

Steve's YouTube site http://www.youtube.com/user/sjb5555.

Useful charts and analysis can also be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevebriggspics/