London close: Losses in tech space, commodity weakness weigh on Footsie

(ShareCast News) - Weak guidance and earnings from global tech giants Apple and Microsoft together with renewed heavy falls in the commodity space dragged on the top flight index.The FTSE 100 skidded lower by a hefty 1.5% or 101.73 points to reach 6,667.34, while the FTSE 250 ended the session down by another 110.24 points to 17,645.65.That came alongside a 0.88% drop in the front month Brent futures contract and losses of 2.1% in three-month copper futures on the LME to $5,336 per metric tonne.According to the minutes of the BoE's meeting ended on 8 July a number of Monetary Policy Committee members thought the "balance of risks to medium-term inflation relative to the 2% target was becoming more skewed to the upside.""Support for a hike will likely continue to build as the year-end approaches, leading, we believe, to a hike in February 2016. By then, six more months of wage and activity data, as well as inflation likely above 1% as negative base effects fall out of the annual variation, may have convinced a majority of MPC members," economists at Barclays said in a research note e-mailed to clients.Governor Mark Carney had in recent days been signalling that a decision to start hiking rates is nearing, with the turn of the year specifically being mentioned."From now on, interest rate decisions at MPC meetings are going to become progressively harder to call," said Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight. "While there was a 9-0 vote in favour of unchanged policy in July, this will highly likely have been the last time that unanimity prevailed for keeping interest rates at 0.50%."Meanwhile, Greece's parliament was set to vote on the remaining reforms signed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, with the new bailout negotiations between Athens and its creditors expected to begin afterwards."There has been a suggestion that the talks should be concluded by 20 August but given the snail's pace seen so far by Europe's bureaucrats, this might be wishful thinking," said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.Late in the afternoon Athens denied reports that fresh elections would be called for in mid-May.Tsipras had been attempting to distance his party from radical left supporters and reassert his control after 32 members of his own party voted against accepting creditors' latest demands for reforms, RBS analyst Alberto Gallo said in a research report e-mailed to clients on 20 July.Miners slumpA gauge of miners declined including BHP Billiton as it trimmed its production guidance for 2016 in the face of waning prices and warned its underlying profits will be hit by a charge of between $350m to $650m from impairments and redundancies at its copper business. Fresnillo, Randgold, Rio Tinto and Anglo American were also lower.Easyjet soared after the company said second half sales would spur a gain in full year earnings.Tate & Lyle gained after after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to 'neutral' from 'sell' and raised its price target to 470p from 460p following its recent underperformance.Land Securities was a high riser after saying it has had a solid start to the year and is maintaining good momentum, with healthy take-up in London, low vacancy rates and rental values rising.ARM Holdings dropped after the chip maker reported second quarter earnings that fell short of expectations.Barclays slipped as the bank denied receiving an offer from the Serious Fraud Office, relating to an investigation into its multi-billion pound fundraisings during the 2008 financial crisis.Market MoverstechMARK 3,161.37 -1.06%FTSE 100 6,667.34 -1.50%FTSE 250 17,645.65 -0.62%FTSE 100 - RiserseasyJet (EZJ) 1,748.00p +4.92%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 449.50p +2.11%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 570.00p +1.69%Sage Group (SGE) 541.00p +1.03%CRH (CRH) 1,876.00p +0.81%Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 361.50p +0.67%Persimmon (PSN) 1,958.00p +0.67%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 535.00p +0.66%Shire Plc (SHP) 5,465.00p +0.55%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,198.00p +0.50%FTSE 100 - FallersARM Holdings (ARM) 970.00p -6.64%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,180.00p -5.71%Anglo American (AAL) 813.50p -5.59%Glencore (GLEN) 228.00p -5.41%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,568.00p -5.37%Pearson (PSON) 1,209.00p -3.82%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,900.00p -3.72%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,502.50p -3.64%Meggitt (MGGT) 459.20p -3.53%Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,007.00p -3.45%FTSE 250 - RisersMitchells & Butlers (MAB) 405.60p +5.60%Aldermore Group (ALD) 269.60p +3.53%Morgan Advanced Materials (MGAM) 341.00p +2.71%Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,689.00p +2.12%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 399.90p +2.02%Marston's (MARS) 158.20p +2.00%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 520.50p +1.86%CLS Holdings (CLI) 1,831.00p +1.72%Betfair Group (BET) 2,636.00p +1.66%Croda International (CRDA) 2,998.00p +1.59%FTSE 250 - FallersTalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 355.70p -8.91%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 326.60p -5.80%Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 186.10p -4.27%Evraz (EVR) 112.10p -4.27%Tullow Oil (TLW) 259.20p -4.14%Lonmin (LMI) 75.10p -3.96%Vedanta Resources (VED) 446.90p -3.29%Victrex plc (VCT) 1,886.00p -3.28%Acacia Mining (ACA) 232.70p -3.28%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 53.70p -3.07%