Miner Lonmin drops over 8 percent

European equities markets were lower Monday on concerns that recently improved sentiment in several regions of the globe could be too optimistic about the prospects for economic recovery.

In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.98 percent to 4,194.91 while the FTSE 250 added 0.77 percent to 7,320.35.

Miners made up four of the top five decliners on the 100, with Lonmin (LSE: LMI) falling the most as it dropped 8.54 percent while Xstrata (LSE: XTA) was down 7.45 percent, Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) was 6.96 percent lower and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) dropped 6.11 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.04 percent to 833.77 while the Dax and the CAC-40 each fell 1.2 percent, to 4,651.82 and 3,082.16 respectively, and the IBEX dropped 1.43 percent to 9,569.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.38 percent to 9.680.87 and the Topix index was down 0.89 percent to 912.42, but the Mothers market added 3.93 percent to 464.47.

Other decliners in the region included the Taiex, which fell 0.23 percent to 6,649.91 while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 1.11 percent to 3,784.2 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 1.16 percent to 3,783.7.

The Hang Seng was 1.23 percent lower to 17,979.41 while the Straits Times Index fell 1.46 percent to 2.266.09 and the Sensex dropped 5.83 percent to 14,043.4 in India.

South Korea’s Kospi added 0.63 percent to 1,428.94 while the Shanghai Composite gained 1.18 percent to 3,124.67.

At nearly 1:30 p.m. in New York, meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had overcome earlier declines to gain 0.16 percent to 8,294.04 but the Nasdaq Composite was 0.95 percent lower to 1,779.48 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.15 percent to 895.08.

Crude oil, metals and grains prices were all lower during the session, with copper lower on worries that demand will remain below supply.

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