(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) Britain's blue chips finished over 61 points lower and global indices were seeing red as investors took flight on fears of Eurozone deflation and after US GDP data was released.
The UK bench mark closed out the afternoon session at 6749 - down 0.9% with airline group IAG () the biggest laggard - down 3.46%.
It came as it emerged Qatar Airways is taking a 9.99% stake in the firm which owns .
The Gulf carrier which operates as Qatar’s national airline said it is looking to strengthen commercial ties with the European group and would consider increasing its holding.
Meanwhile the big UK supermarkets were out of favour with ’s () down 3.18% and () shedding 2.7%.
The German Dax is down 44 points while the CAC 40 in France lost 27 at the time of writing. In the US the Dow is down 105 points to 17313.
European shares have been pegged back by Eurostat data which showed consumer price inflation was -0.6% in January having fallen at an annual rate of 0.2% in December.
The numbers add to Eurozone deflationary fears and possibly vindicate the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing plans.
Meanwhile in the US it emerged the economy had slowed more than expected at the end of last year. GDP expanded at 2.6% annual rate in the fourth quarter of the year but was below the 5% pace seen in the third quarter.
A stock in focus in London was telecoms giant BT () which shed 2.61% despite posting third-quarter figures showing a pre-tax profit jump of 12%.
Traders are more worried about the firm's looming costs of bidding for football rights acquiring EE and having to pump a further £2bln into the company’s pension fund.
() slipped again after yesterday’s update from the oil major which cut US$15bn from its global investment budget.
Conversely London-listed metal miners were higher with () atop the Footsie up 4.89%.
In small cap world () was the standout gainer whizzing north over 91% on news that the construction and commissioning of its Tschudi operation in Namibia is well ahead of schedule with first copper expected next month.
Also up over 32% was security systems provider Newmark Security () after it posted sparkling interims. The company said full-year results should be ahead of last year after it set a brisk pace in the first half.
Profit before tax jumped to £1.56mln in the six months ended 31 October from £906000 a year earlier while revenue was up 34% from £8.9mln a year earlier to £11.9mln.
blur Group the e-commerce specialist added 23.49%. On Wednesday it reported a more than doubling of project bookings on its online platform last year.
Bookings for 2014 - that's defined as the projects values excluding listing fees as agreed by the customer - came in at US$49.1mln compared to US$22.2mln in 2013.
() climbed over 10% as it announced the hire of US specialist NUTECH Energy Alliance to help maximise the potential value of the Horse Hill area licences.
Shareholders in () also enjoyed a 11.5% gain as it boasted “excellent progress” in the last six months of 2014 a period which coincided with the fall in oil prices.
() shares advanced 7.69% after revealing operational progress and a legal win. Also up on the day was () which added 18.75%.
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