FTSE 100 drops on China market tumbles

FTSE 100 Index, British benchmark stock market gauge, Monday slumped by 4.67 percent, or 288.78 points, to 5,898.87, as China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 8.49 percent, the steepest dive since February 2007, and dragged the performance of the European markets.

The Chinese Shenzhen Component Index also fell by 7.83 percent, and the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 8.08 percent, data showed.

On the same day, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) uplifted UK's economic growth forecasts for this year and next, claiming the country is on the trace of "twin-engined" recovery.

The British lobbying body is forecasting 2.6 percent growth for 2015 and 2.8 percent for 2016, up from its June's projections of 2.4 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. It expects that British GDP growth to average 0.7 percent a quarter until the end of 2016, in line with the expansion that seen in the second quarter of 2015.

Commodities trader Glencore's share price slumped by 13.02 percent topped the losers of the blue chips.

Share prices of Anglo American, BHP Billiton, BP and Coca-Cola HBC declined by 9.91 percent, 9.20 percent, 7.32 percent and 7.31 percent respectively.

RSA Insurance Group was the only share among the 101-component index that closed higher. It edged up merely 0.75 percent of the day.

Significant sell-off was spotted on the market, as the trading volume in FTSE 100 companies was more than double its 30-day average. And the index has lost 7.33 percent so far this year. Endit